HEREDnT*AND 
CHILD CULTURE 



HENRY DWIGHT CHAPIN 




Class HQ.t^^ 

Book JI4 

CojpgM?. 

CfiESRIGHT DEPOSir. 



HEREDITY AND CHILD CULTURE 




Composite Figure Showing Completely Developed 
Youth. 



Heredity and Child Culture 



BY 
HENRY DWIGHT CHAPIN, M.D. 

President of the Children's "Welfare Federation of New Yorkj 
Medical Director of the Speedwell Society; Emeritus Pro- 
fessor of Medicine (Diseases of Children) at the New York 
Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital; Ex- 
President of the American Pediatric Society. 



With a Foreword Br 
PROFESSOR HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN 




NEW YORK 
E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 

681 FiFiH Avenue 



Copyright, 1922, 
BY E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 



All rights reserved 



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PBINTID XK VHB VNITBD BTATIS OV AlCEBIOA 



SEP 18 1922 

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TO 
MY FRIEND AND CLASS-MATE 

HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN 



Preface 

In a study of the developmental period, one 
must start with a background relating to in- 
fluences that precede the beginning of inde- 
pendent life and which tend to give it a good 
or bad start. With this in mind, I have briefly- 
sketched the views of some leading biologists 
on the subject of heredity, and have freely 
drawn upon various authorities who have writ- 
ten on the subjects discussed. Their names, 
with references, are mentioned in the text, and 
I herewith express my obligation to them. 

As to the factors that control life after it has 
begun, those occurring in the early years are 
the ones that specially count. Hence this 
period of life must be particularly stressed in 
a study of the possibilities of development. It 
is also well to know what to expect when con- 
ditions -are favorable and how to recognize 
disastrous influences in time for correction. 

it 



viii Preface 

This involves a study of the various problems 
of children as individuals as well as in their 
social relationships. 

Good development is the resultant of many- 
forces, among which may be noted heredity, 
prenatal care of the expectant mother, proper 
oversight of infants and growing children, 
food, clothing, housing, education, hours and 
conditions of study, recreation, expert medical 
attendance during illness, and the general hab- 
its of the individual. 

In the frontispiece is shown a statue repre- 
senting the physical perfection of form in 
youth. The sculptor is Professor R. Tait 
McKensie of the University of Pennsylvania, 
and the figure stands in the American Museum 
of Natural History. In proportions it repre- 
sents an average of the fifty strongest men at 
Harvard as measured by Dr. Dudley A. Sar- 
gent. I am indebted to Professor McKensie 
for photographing the figure for me and per- 
mitting its use in this book. 

Heney Dwight Chapin". 
June, 1922 



CONTENTS 



OHAPTBB FAGB 

I. Importance op the Cbild . . . . v . 1 

II. Organic Inheritance 9 

III. Social Inheritance 21 

IV. Selective Breeding 35 

V. The Beginning op Life . 48 

VI. The Developing Period ........ 58 

VII. The Pre-School Age ....... 74 

Vni. The School Child ........ 82 

IX. Mental Culture ......... 106 

X. Moral Culture 121 

XI. Nerve Culture 132 

XII. The Importance of Proper Nutrition . . 138 

XIII. The Family 157 

XIV. The Dependent Child . . ... . . 168 

XV. The Adoption of Children . . . . . 194 

XVI. The Prolongation of Humian Life Through 

Child Culture ....:..... 209 



Foreword 

It is very important that all parents, all 
teachers, and all physicians should understand 
the interlocking relations of heredity and en- 
vironment. So much reliance is placed on ed- 
ucation in America that it is necessary to 
stress the great importance of being born with 
a sound and healthy constitution and with good 
moral, spiritual, and intellectual predisposi- 
tions. 

Heredity is, in fact, altogether a matter of 
predisposition and potentiality; it is the key 
which fits the lock t)f environment, including 
all the steps in nurture and in education. Con- 
sequently, eugenics, which has to do with be- 
ing bom well, and euthenics, which has to do 
with being nurtured and educated well, have 
been inseparable from the beginning of time. 

The value of a clear understanding of these 
principles to the parent, teacher and physi- 
cian, begins with birth and extends through 



xii Foreword 

the entire life education, when the responsibil- 
ity of the world ^s welfare passes on to another 
generation. If there is an hereditary predis- 
position, — a passion for drink, for instance, — 
and we know of it, we can, through nurture and 
environment, take away the opportunity for its 
development; if there is an hereditary predis- 
position to certain physical defects, such as tu- 
berculosis, we can, by change of environment 
and proper nurture, prevent its development. 

During the last seventy-five years we have 
made marvellous progress in euthenics, and I 
believe we are on the threshold of similar pro- 
gress in eugenics. The two fields of human- 
itarian endeavor interlock exactly as heredity 
interlocks with environment, nature with nur- 
ture. 

The writer of this volume is one of the 
leaders of our time in the application of knowl- 
edge inspired by sentiment and real sympathy 
and understanding of the ills to which flesh is 
heir. In this work we find clearly set forth 
this most important of all humanitarian move- 
ments, namely, the birth and care of children. 



Foreword xiii 

The nation that takes the best care of the 
birth of its children, that encourages the kinds 
of birth which will bring into the world the 
greatest am'ount of happiness and the least 
amount of suffering, and the nation that brings 
to the care of children after birth all the advan- 
tages of education in its broadest sense, is 
destined to survive and lead the world in the 
progress of the future. 

Let us pray that this may be our American 
nation. 

Hbnby Faiefieid Osbobn. 



HEREDITY AND CHILD CULTURE 



"The children must he practiced well to this, or 
they'll ne'er do't." 

"I will teach the children their behaviors.'' 
— Shakespeaee, The Merry Wives of "Windsor. 

"The Youth of a Nation are the trustees of 
Posterity." --Disraeli, Book VI. ' 

"And a little child shall lead them." 

—Isaiah, xi, 6. 



Heredity and Child Culture 

CHAPTER I 

IMPORTANCE OP THE CHILD 

Two controlling factors are present in all 
life, — heredity and environment, nature and 
nurture, as expressed by Galton. At the birth 
of the individual, heredity has done its best 
or its worst, and can be reckoned with only in 
the sense of having all the best potentialities 
and predispositions cherished and developed, 
and all the worst avoided. Its activity has 
extended through long or short reaches of past 
time, and the laws of its operation are not com- 
pletely understood. The question of environ- 
ment and nurture being of the present, and to a 
certain extent possible of control, now assumes 
the greatest importance. While from the bi- 
ologic standpoint heredity may appear to be the 



2 Heredity and Child Culture 

more important influence, yet in the scheme of 
evolution the higher the animal the more im- 
portant and influential become nurture and en- 
vironment. This is especially emphasized in 
the human race by the prolongation of the 
period of infancy. John Fiske was the first to 
elaborate this fruitful view of one of the funda- 
mental laws of higher evolution, that not only 
throws a strong light on the methods of evolu- 
tion but lays the greatest importance upon the 
period of infancy as influencing the future de- 
velopment and usefulness of the individual. 

This long period of helpless infancy is a time 
of extreme plasticity when the career of the 
individual is no longer predetermined by the 
career of its ancestor. One generation of the 
lower animals is nearly an exact reproduction 
of the preceding one. The young lanimal is 
born almost fully formed and can look out for 
itself at once or shortly after birth, independ- 
ently of the parent. The longer the infancy 
and growing time of an animal the longer the 
period of its teachability; and a slow growth 
means an increase both in capacity for develop- 



Importance of the Child 3 

ment and of all the loftier prerogatives. Thus 
the higher apes have a babyhood when for two 
or three months they are unable to feed them- 
selves or move about independently of the par- 
ent. The human infant is distinguished from 
the highest of the lower animals by the much 
longer duration of helpless infancy and the 
marked increase in the size of the brain, particu- 
larly in the extent of its surface. There is 
here a great increase in the size and complex- 
ity of brain organization that takes place 
largely after birth. Accompanying the rapid 
growth of the nervous system is that of the 
skeleton and various visceral organs. 

During the first two years of life, the brain 
not only doubles in weight but increases marvel- 
ously in its convolutions and complexity. The 
infinite distance between man and the lower 
animals consists in the fact that, in the former, 
natural selection confines itself principally to 
the surface of the brain, which requires a long 
period of helpless infancy for this highly plastic 
work to be properly started and developed. 
Inherited tendencies are there, but the proper 



4 Heredity and Child Culture 

environment eonnts for much in this work, so 
potent in future possibilities. 

It is evident that, correlated with this long 
period of infancy there must be a time of 
maternal care and watchfulness if the race is to 
exist in health and vigor. Knowledge is re- 
quired as well as care, for mistakes made 
at this time can never be completely corrected. 
The first few years of life are, biologically 
speaking, the most important ones we live. The 
beginning organism has at this time stamped 
on it the possibihties of future vigorous life 
or of early degeneration and decay. This is 
to a certain extent true all through the period 
of childhood, from birth to adolescence. Hence 
a careful study and understanding of all the 
phases of infancy and childhood are of the 
greatest importance alike to physicians, parents 
and society at large. This is the only period 
where really constructive and permanent work 
can be accomplished. Through intelligent di- 
rection children may be taken out of environ- 
ments which will develop the worst and placed 



Importance of the Child 5 

in surroundings that will nurture the best. 

There has probably been no era in the history 
of the world when such importance must be at- 
tached to the coming generation. Sir George 
Newman/ in a report on the health of English 
school-children, well states that the War, more 
than anything else, has brought home to the 
public the conception of the child as a primary 
national asset, and that no investment and no 
national economy can compare in results with 
the care of the rising generation. 

Civilization itself seems to be at the parting 
of the ways. All kinds of wild and destructive 
theories are in the air. It is certain that radical 
and abrupt changes, which are manifestations 
of primitive intellectual and emotional re- 
actions, will result in disaster. These elemen- 
tal passions and strivings that find outlet in law- 
lessness and revolt are a result of an intellec- 
tual and emotional instability that are rever- 
sions to the childhood of the race. It has been 
well said that we have had a world in conJflict; 

1 British Medical JourfMl, Oct. 6th, 1917. 



6 Heredity and Child Culture 

now we have a world in revolt. We are living 
in an unstable, shell-shocked age. 

It is only by starting with the child and build- 
ing up a sound physical, mental and moral struc- 
ture that the future manhood can carry on 
successfully and erect a safer social structure. 
To prepare a better world, we must provide 
better men and women, physically, mentally and 
morally, — and we should start with the child. 
Broken physiques, like old sinners, are hard to 
help or control. Many biologists believe that 
the human race is degenerating and losing some 
of its old stamina. 

The call of the day is for conservation, — of 
effort, of food, of health, and, above all, of life 
itself. But merely saving life is not enough. 
It should be rendered strong and efficient. We 
have recently had warnings that we must im- 
prove our methods in handling the mental and 
physical life of the time. A high percentage of 
rejections for physical reasons among the young 
men of the country, drawn by draft or volun- 
teering in the army, — averaging one in four, — 



Importance of the Child 7 

gives food for thought. There must be a 
sustained 'and prolonged effort all along the line 
for improving these conditions. 

What is the way out? Many foolish and 
inadequate theories are advanced, but even- 
tually it must come through the child. The 
present nerve-shattered generation may get 
along as best it may, but we must start at the 
foundations and build a better, stronger racp 
for the future. We can try and beget a sounder 
generation and so train it as to secure strong 
bodies, steady nerves, broad judgment and wide 
vision. We can only avoid a threatened racial 
impoverishment through the child. Not only 
is the physical development supremely impor- 
tant in the opening years, but mental and moral 
impressions experienced during this period, al- 
though often forgotten, may deeply affect 
later life. 

The future of the world depends on the child. 
All advance, all the new orientation the world 
has hoped for and largely failed in attaining, 
may come in the new generation if the chil- 



8 Heredity and Child Culture 

dren can only be properly molded. All the un- 
solved individual and social problems may be 
more hopefully approached if we can but pre- 
pare better material with which to make the 
effort. 

What can we do about heredity? How can 
environment be best controlled! How can we 
secure a better race? 

Upon the proper answer to these questions 
depends the future of civilization. The first 
and sure thing to do is this, — Concentrate on 
THE Child. 



CHAPTER n 

OEGANIC INHEEITANCE 

The writer is not a pure scientist but a practi- 
cal worker who has devoted many years to a 
study of the actual problems of childhood. 
Some of the apparent laws of biology, as pro- 
mulgated by various interpreters, seem to point 
to a sort of hopeless determinism. An effort is 
here made to glance at these laws from a 
different angle, to see if a more encouraging out- 
look cannot be maintained. 

Which is the preponderating and all-impor- 
tant influence in life, nature or nurture, 
heredity or environment f Both are vitally im- 
portant, but which must be stressed in our 
thought and action? Upon the answer to this 
question depends much of our attitude toward 
some of the pressing problems of life. If the 
first is over-emphasized, we will, at best, be 
landed in a sort of benevolent fatalism; if the 

9 



10 Heredity and Child Culture 

second looms up in importance, it encourages 
hope and effort. This question starts with the 
beginning of life and ends with its close. 
It is at the beginning, however, that it as- 
sumes the greatest importance for here is 
where change and accomplishment are pos- 
sible. 

The evolution of all life, plant as well as 
animal, depends upon the action of the follow- 
ing great forces, — heredity, reproduction, vari- 
ation and environment. Let us glance at some 
of the ideas held by various biologists on the 
subject of heredity. The older views were ad- 
vanced by Lamarck and Darwin. Lamarck 
believed that organisms could be modified by 
environment, and such modifications occurring 
during the life of the animal could be passed 
along by organic inheritance. This view, of 
course, stressed the influence of environment 
and held that evolution proceeds by means of 
the inheritance of acquired characters. These 
characters that might proceed from use, need 
or desire, formed the basis of progressive evolu- 
tion. He stated that **all that has been 



Organic Inheritance ii 

acquired or altered in the organization of in- 
dividuals during their lives is preserved by 
generation and transmitted by individuals 
which sprang from those which have undergone 
these changes. '' By developing functional 
activity of organs, in other words, by constantly 
employing them, hereditary as well as other 
values could be obtained. Thus developed the 
idea known as use inheritance. 

Darwin believed that evolution takes place 
through natural selection or the struggle for ex- 
istence and the survival of the fittest. This, as 
well as other forms of variability, may depend 
on changing conditions of life. He held that 
alterations in the environment acting directly 
or indirectly on the animal might produce vari- 
ation in inheritance by becoming cumulative 
through a series of generations. Conversely, 
individuals, families and races that can not 
adapt themselves to a changing environment 
will gradually yield to the law of natural selec- 
tion and disappear. Families and races that 
failed to properly reproduce will yield more 
quickly to this law both as to cause and effect. 



12 Heredity and Child Culture 

These opinions are becoming displaced in the 
minds of many biologists by what may be con- 
sidered a more modern view. 

Independent life begins by the union of two 
cells, the ovnm and sperm cell, which is known 
as conception. The influences of heredity are 
then closed as far as this individual life is con- 
cerned and any further influence upon develop- 
ment must come from environment. It has 
been well said that after conception the mother 
is only a nurse to the child. The modern biol- 
ogist, however, lays the greatest stress upon 
the nature and influence of these germinal cells. 
This germinal substance, minute as it is, as 
distinguished from the rest of the body, is en- 
tirely distinct, and little, if any, influenced by 
the other tissues. A radical distinction is thus 
drawn between the germ and the soma^ as the 
rest of the body is called. The only character- 
istics that can be passed along by organic in- 
heritance are such as have been contained in 
the germinal substance of the egg and the 
sperm cell. The direct implication from this 
doctrine is that the condition of the body as a 



Organic Inheritance 13 

whole, apart from the germ cells, has no in- 
fluence upon inheritance. This naturally leads 
up to the doctrine of Weismann that acquired 
characters are not transmitted by inheritance. 
While traits may be transmitted that the indi- 
vidual has himself inherited, those that have 
been acquired by his own actions cannot be 
passed on to posterity. This germ plasm con- 
tinues along through different generations 
as an unending stream and each individual body 
acts as a receptacle and conserver of an im- 
perishable part. 

The most vital part of every body cell is a 
minute spot called the nucleus. In the sex 
cells there are located in the nuclei marvelously 
minute germinal units known as chromosomes. 
Each of these chromosomes contains deter- 
miners, every one of which acts as a determin- 
ant of some hereditary character. It is even 
believed that a special spot in each chromosome 
holds the determiner for each character. Dif- 
ferent chromosomes may come from different 
ancestors and they may be combined in many 
varying ways, which accounts for different 



14 Heredity and Child Culture 

traits seen in the offspring. As there are nu- 
merous possible and diverse combinations of 
these ancestral germ units, we can understand 
how varying may be the characteristics of 
different individuals. Numberless combina- 
tions may be possible as it has been estimated 
that there are 48 chromosomes in the sex cells 
of the white woman. It is further supposed 
that variation may be caused by a recombi- 
nation of these ancestral germ units in future 
generations, as well as by changes that may 
take place in the germ plasm itself. Pro- 
longed undernourishment and various poisons 
may ultimately have a disastrous effect upon 
the germ plasm. It is not supposed, however, 
that changes in the body plasm or soma can 
have direct effect on the germ plasm. 

One of the most interesting theories concern- 
ing the method of action of heredity is known as 
Mendelism, a term taken from the name of Gre- 
gor Mendel by whom it was first elaborated. 
According to this theory, the unit characters in 
the sex cells do not blend but remain distinct 
and are thus passed along at birth. These 



Organic Inheritance 15 

characters always 'retain their individuality 
and when they are different and exclusive, the 
more active character is said to be dominant 
and the more passive one recessive. Mendel 
believed that paired characters received from 
the parents are so segregated in the ovum and 
sperm cell of the offspring that only one of the 
characters is contained in each of these germ 
cells. Thus when there are two contrasted 
pairs of characters in the parent only one 
(dominant) will appear in the offspring. These 
distinct characters are called pure, and the es- 
sential fact of MendePs law is that the char- 
lacters in the germ cells always retain their 
purity or distinctiveness. In the offspring of 
hybrids 25 per cent, of dominant and recessive 
characters will reappear as pure. It is gen- 
erally found that the characters, dominant and 
recessive, transmitted by hybrids will be split 
in a general ratio of three to one. 

Professor Edwin Grant Conklin ^ defines he- 
redity as the particular germinal organization 
that is transmitted from parents to offspring. 

1 Heredity and Erwironment in the Development of Men. — 
Princeton University Press. 



i6 Heredity and Child Culture 

To quote, — ** Heritage is the sum of all those 
qualities which are determined or caused by 
this germinal organization. Development is 
progressive and co-ordinated differentiation of 
this germinal organization by which it is trans- 
ferred into the adult organization.'' Again, 
*^ Inherited traits are not transmitted from 
parents to offspring but the germinal factors or 
causes are transmitted, and under proper con- 
ditions of environment these give rise to de- 
veloped characters. Every oosperm as well as 
every developed organism differs more or less 
from every other one, and this remarkable con- 
dition is brought about by extremely numerous 
permutations in the distribution of the chro- 
mosomes of the sex cells in maturation and 
fertilization.'' Professor Henry Fairfield Os- 
born, in his remarkable book. The Origin and 
Evolution of Life, falls back on an energy con- 
ception of life. Some of his ideas are put in a 
striking way as follows, — ^*We know to some 
extent how plants and animals evolve; we do 
not know why they evolve* * * * * All the ex- 
planations of evolution which have been 



Organic Inheritance 17 

offered by three generations of naturalists align 
themselves under two main ideas only. The 
first is the idea that the causes of evolution are 
chiefly from without inward, namely, beginning 
in the environment of the body and extending 
into the germ; this idea is centripetal. The 
second idea is just the reverse: it is centrif- 
ugal, namely, that the causes begin in the 
germ and extend outward and into the body and 
into the environment. ***** Weismann's 
great contribution to thought has been to point 
out the very sharp distinction which un- 
doubtedly exists between the hereditary forces 
and predispositions in the heredity-germ and 
the visable expression of these forces in the 
organism. The problem of causes of evolution 
has become an infinitely more difficult one since 
Weismann has compelled us to realize that the 
essential question is the causes of germinal evo- 
lution rather than the causes of bodily evolu- 
tion or of environmental evolution. * * * * * 
The idea that the germ is an energy complex is 
an as yet unproved hypothesis ; it has not been 
demonstrated. The heredity-germ in some re- 



1 8 Heredity and Child Culture 

spects bears a likeness to latent or potential 
interacting energy, while in other respects it is 
entirely unique. The supposed germ energy 
is not only cumulative but is in a sense imper- 
ishable, self -perpetuating, and continuous dur- 
ing the whole period of the evolution of life 
upon the earth.* * * * * While we owe to 
matter and form the revelation of the existence 
of the great law of evolution, we must reverse 
our thought in the search for causes and take 
steps toward an energy conception of the origin 
of life and an energy conception of the nature 
of heredity. ' ' 

Although the theories of hereditary action 
are thus somewhat diverse, certain general facts 
may be noted upon which there is agreement. 
Herbert Spencer defines heredity as the law 
that each plant or animal, if it reproduces, gives 
origin to others like itself, the likeness con- 
sisting not so much in the repetition of indivi- 
dual traits as in the assumption of the same 
general structure. 

According to Galton's law of ancestral in- 



Organic Inheritance 19 

heritance, the two parents contribute between 
them on an average one-half of each inherited 
quality, one-fourth being contributed by each 
of them. The four grandparents contribute 
one-sixteenth, or altogether one-fourth of the 
inherited faculties, and the farther back one 
goes the less will naturally be the influence. 
Pearson, another authority, believes that par- 
ents have relatively more influence than grand- 
parents, as indicated in the above ratio, al- 
though accepting the general principle of the 
law of ancestral inheritance. 

It must be acknowledged that in respect to 
organic heredity there are many gaps in our 
knowledge, and it must also be borne in mind 
that most of the studies of biologists have been 
made upon plants and the lower animals and 
their generalizations can only partly apply to 
human beings. In the scheme of evolution, the 
higher the animal the slower and more import- 
ant becomes its period of growth. This is es- 
pecially emphasized, as already noted, in hu- 
man beings by the prolongation of the period of 
infancy and the many subsequent years of 



20 Heredity and Child Culture 

growth before complete development is ob- 
tained. It accordingly follows that heredity 
seems to be more important as an influence in 
the lower organisms than in man. 



CHAPTER in 



SOCIAL INHEBITANCE 



In a recent valuable discussion on the ques- 
tion of social heredity and evolution, Professor. 
Herbert William Conn ^ has plainly shown how 
the laws of the evolution of animals and plants 
apply to human evolution only up to a certain 
point beyond which man has been under the 
influence of distinct laws of his own. He draws 
attention to facts proving that the human social 
unit has been developed by a new set of forces 
which have had little or no influence in the ani- 
mal kingdom. Moreover, these forces are under 
the control, to some extent, of society and the 
individual. 

In line with this thought. Professor E. G. 
Conklin states that a relatively poor inheri- 
tance with excellent environmental conditions 

i/8foot«? Heredity and Social Evolution: The Other Side of 
Eugemcs — The Abington Press. 

21 



22. Heredity and Child Culture 

often produces better results than a good in- 
heritance with poor conditions. He further 
believes that hereditary possibilities may re- 
main latent and undeveloped unless stimulated 
into activity by environment. 

This leads to the distinction that may be made 
between individual and social evolution, the 
forces of which are controlled by different laws. 
For the individual we have biological heredity ; 
for society we have what may properly be called 
a social heredity that passes along accumula- 
tions gained by parents from the surrounding 
civilization, — in other words, from the environ- 
ment. These are the acquired characters that 
can be passed along from parents to offspring 
by teaching and example, although not by direct 
biological inheritance. While the latter, ac- 
cording to modern science, cannot be immedi- 
ately influenced, the social inheritance and evo- 
lution of the individual can be powerfully af- 
fected by education. 

A glance at some of the characters that 
may be acquired by social heredity shows how 
large a number of important influences lie en- 
tirely outside organic heredity. 



Social Inheritance 23 

What are the principal acquirements that the 
parent has already learned from his surround- 
ings and can thus teach to his offspring? These 
have been well summarized by Professor Conn. 
The first and most fundamental acquirement is 
language. This is evidently a social inheri- 
tance as the infant of the most cultured parents 
is just as unable to speak as the offspring of 
mentally deficient people. While a few of the 
lower animals emit sounds that doubtless pos- 
sess rudimentary efforts toward the exercise of 
language, the human animal has reached full 
development in civilization and knowledge 
through this constantly exercised social in- 
heritance that is at first gained by simple im- 
itation and not by organic inheritance. A new- 
born baby of the present age is just as helpless 
as if born in the stone age, and probably essen- 
tially the same in organic nature. 

Not only the use of spoken words but the 
ability to write them down is another example 
of social inheritance that lays the foundation 
for all knowledge. The possibilities of learn- 
ing thus, come largely through social relation- 
ships. The great accumulation of facts and 



24 Heredity and Child Culture 

generalizations leading to laws that partially 
explain many of the phenomena of nature and 
life could not have been preserved or passed 
along from generation to generation without the 
ability to record them and thus elevate and 
ennoble the mind. Professor Stewart Paton ^ 
puts it thus, — *^If we recognize that the mind 
is largely a social product, we shall avoid many 
of the unnecessary difficulties introduced into 
the discussion of the inheritance of mental 
characteristics. Because of the fact that the 
mental make-up is, to a, considerable extent, the 
result of environmental stimuli, it is to be con- 
sidered as a * social contribution.' Mental 
potentiality is conditioned by heredity, but 
development is encouraged or inhibited very 
largely by what happens after birth. There is 
also some reason to believe that changes in nur- 
ture may serve as stimuli affecting the growth 
of the embryo through the parental germ cells. ' ' 
The existence of a moral sense that can dis- 
tinguish right from wrong is not born with the 
individual. The infant has nq moral sense and 

^ Human Behavior — Charles Scribner's Sons. 



Social Inheritance 25 

is a perfect example of unadulterated selfish- 
ness. Conscience, that best trait of later life, 
does not exist at the start. Altruistic traits 
that really form the foundation of what is best 
in modern civilization are not found at the 
beginning of life but must be cultivated by in- 
struction and example, — in other words, they 
are socially acquired. The possibilities of 
moral development may doubtless vary accord- 
ing to innate inheritances which are influenced 
by organic conditions, but the superstructure 
must be acquired by the teaching and example 
of others. 

The very construction and existence of society 
depend upon numerous and diverse soci^rl inher- 
itances. The functioning of government, the 
accumulation of wealth, many artificial con- 
ditions of environment that minister to the 
higher life of the race, and numerous other fac- 
tors that distinguish human life from mere 
animal life proceed from social ideals that are 
handed on from generation to generation. The 
origin and continuance of the human family is 
largely owing to the same influence. It is thus 
evident that the evolution of the organic body 



26 Heredity and Child Culture 

as such and the evolution of society proceed 
according to laws that are widely divergent, 
but the higher traits in human evolution and in 
civilization itself depend on social and not on 
organic inheritance. 

While some lower forms of life, as bees and 
ants, show organization in a remarkable degree, 
it is due to instinct that plays only a minor part 
in human development. Instincts are due 
entirely to organic inheritance and function ow- 
ing to a certain definite structure of nerve cen- 
tres and ganglia. These ganglia always give 
the same automatic response to all stimuli with 
changeless uniformity. It is thus the structure 
of the nervous system that accounts for the 
wonderful phenomena often exhibited by the 
instincts and these do not depend on learning 
or experience. While the lower animals are 
guided by their instincts, man exhibits an ini- 
tiative power drawn from acquired knowl- 
edge. ; 

It is thus seen that a broader view of all the 
conditions surrounding heredity makes for a 
more hopeful outlook for human beings as dis- 
tinguished from lower animals. At first view, 



Social Inheritance 27 

Weismann's theory that every child is molded 
solely by inherited tendencies that cannot be 
essentially altered and that acquired traits are 
not transmitted seems to make for a loss of per- 
sonal responsibility and a pessimistic outlook. 
Granting that this may be true on the strictly 
biologic side, we have the possibility of a wide 
and splendid social inheritance that may do 
much to shape life 's currents and even compen- 
sate for some of the defects of organic heritage. 

Some of our leading biologists seem to be 
taking more hopeful views. Professor Don- 
caster ^ observes that what is inherited is not 
the character acquired but the innate power of 
acquiring it. While the germ cell determines 
whether and to what extent a change shall 
take place, the environment supplies the 
stimulus. 

Professor Conklin states that the experiences 
and ^accomplishments of past generations are 
not inherited through the germ cells but through 
society. Then he makes the following trenchant 
remark, — * * Social heredity has outrun germinal 

1 Eeredity — Cambridge University Press. 



28 Heredity and Child Culture 

heredity and the intellectual, social, and moral 
responsibilities of onr times are too great for 
many men.'' This is one of our present- 
day troubles, as the physical, intellectual and 
social developments of the age have out-dis- 
tanced its moral development. Lathrop Stod- 
dard ^ puts it thus, — * * The truth is that as civi- 
lization advances it leaves behind multitudes of 
human beings who have not the capacity to 
keep pace. ***** These are not * degener- 
ates'; they are * primitives,' carried over into 
a social environment in which they do not be- 
long. ' ' The intelligence tests made upon large 
numbers of young men recruited for the army 
during the last war showed an astonishingly 
large number of morons whose mental age did 
not exceed twelve years. 

Again to quote Professor Conn, — **Our 
eugenists tell us that an evil trait may persist 
in a family for generations in spite of any kind 
of training and even in spite of mating with one 
in whom the weakness is lacking. The laws of 
organic heredity make it hopeless to strive in 

1 The Revolt Against Civilis!ation — Charles Scribner's Sons. 



Social Inheritance 29 

any kind of life either to eradicate a weakness 
or to introduce strength into the nature of our 
children. Personal responsibility thus tends 
to vanish entirely as we become filled with this 
conception. We do not seem responsible for 
our own acts, inasmuch as they are determined 
by our inherited traits, nor are we responsible 
for our children ^s inheritance, since it is beyond 
our reach. The life one lives seems to weigh as 
nothing and to be without any influence. ***** 
Among animals, individuals certainly are not 
responsible either for their own inheritance or 
that of their offspring. But when we realize 
that human social evolution has not been an 
organic one, and that it has been due not to con- 
genital but to acquired characters, not to organic 
but to social heredity, the sense of responsibility 
for our lives comes back to us with greater 
force than ever. It is exactly these acquired 
characters that are forming the future. It is 
the lives that men live that create social inheri- 
tance. It is not a matter of indifference to our 
children or to posterity in general what kind of 
life we individually live. We are responsible 
for the social heritage that we give our children, 



30 Heredity and Child Culture 

even if we are not responsible for their organic 
heritage. We may greatly modify the social 
inheritance of our offspring, even after they are 
born, though we may not modify their organic 
inheritance ; and in determining what they will 
become and what they will do in the world, the 
social inheritance commonly counts much more 
than the organic inheritance. ***** The 
heritage of the race is determined more by 
what men do than by what they inherit from 
their parents by organic inheritance. ***** 
Organic heredity simply gives us certain pow- 
ers, while social heredity determines what we 
shall do with those powers. Man is molded into 
a social individual by social forces, and whether 
or not he fits into our society depends more 
upon the social forces at work than upon the 
powers that nature gave him. Even though he 
have an inheritance weak both mentally and 
morally, an individual may be molded into a 
fairly good member of the social organism if he 
is surrounded by proper environment; but if 
he is reared in the wrong environment, tend- 
ing to produce a wrong social inheritance, he 



Social Inheritance 31 

will be an undesirable member of society, no 
matter what may have been his innate powers. 
***** The real stimulus which has acted 
upon man to produce his wonderful develop- 
ment in contrast to animals has been the util- 
ization of the new force of social inheritance. ' ' 
These hopeful and stimulating words may 
serve as added warning not to put too much 
stress upon biological generalizations derived 
exclusively from plant and animal life. "What 
is often attributed to organic inheritance may, 
in the last analysis, be largely due to social 
inheritance. Do the children of thieves, 
drunkards, and prostitutes turn out badly prin- 
cipally because of birth, or from living in the 
company and with the example of degenerates ? 
It may be that some individual developments 
attributed to organic heredity are, to a large ex- 
tent really due to environment. This thought 
might be applied to two classic examples in 
heredity. The children of the Jukes' family, 
we must remember, were brought up by the 
Jukes, and the Edwards' family were sur- 



32 Heredity and Child Culture 

rounded by elevating and stimulating influences 
from birth. Perhaps the Edwards' owed 
about as much to an ideal social as to a good 
organic heritage. 

For many years I was one of the directors of 
the Children's Village located in the country 
near New York. Incorrigible boys are com- 
mitted here by the courts for necessary restraint 
and education, after committing petty crimes. 
At the Village they are sent to school in a cot- 
tage community, given vocational training, and 
their energies have free outlet in outdoor sports. 
In other words, they are given a good social en- 
vironment to take the place of former bad sur- 
roundings. The great majority of these chil- 
dren eventually turn out well. Many have been 
sent West where they have made good citizens 
and some have even become eminent in their 
communities. Doubtless a large number of 
these unfortunate children started with a fairly 
good organic inheritance, but, whether they did 
or not, a bad social inheritance was immediately 
responsible for their downfall, and, when this 



Social Inheritance 33 

was corrected, a favorable result nearly always 
followed. Many similar endeavors have shown 
equally good results. Defective eyesight, 
faulty hearing, diseased tonsils and adenoids, 
are often causes of poor school records and 
truancy that may lead to petty crimes. 

The following quotation from Ferguson ^ 
sums up fairly well what many practical 
workers believe in reference to the factors in 
human heredity, — **In lower reaches of the 
process, as compared with the higher, heredity 
is relatively strong. It is likely enough that 
characteristics acquired in the lifetime of the 
individual are, in the lower orders, transmitted 
by heredity, but in higher life this seems gen- 
erally not to be the case. Heredity is seen to 
be a failing thing, and the privileges that de- 
pend upon it are, with the advancement of the 
world, ever shorter and shorter lived. The 
competencies that avail in the highest circles 
cannot in any considerable measure be passed 
on from generation to generation, but must be 

1 The Affirmative Intellect — Funk & Wagnalls Oo. 



34 Heredity and Child Culture 

won out of the infinite by each individual for 
himself. In all that is great and prevailing an 
organism is born not of the flesh." 

There are many with a good biological hered- 
ity who have never attained a good social hered- 
ity, — in other words, they have never had a fair 
chance. They form the **mute, inglorious 
Miltons ^ ' in every country churchyard that Gray 
sang about in his immortal Elegy. 



CHAPTEE IV 



SELECTIVE BREEDING 



In stressing the idea that many of our best 
endowments are conferred by social inheritance, 
we must remember that these advantages cannot 
come to their best fruition unless based on a 
good organic inheritance. The eugenist tells 
us that the principal method by which racial im- 
provement can take place consists in letting 
good stock reproduce and poor stock remain 
sterile. This means that every possible 
measure should be taken to increase the fertility 
of the best types. Superior racial stocks must 
always be encouraged. 

A recent article by Major Leonard Darwin,^ 
after discussing the danger from propagation 
of inferior stocks, contains the following state- 
ments, — ** Turning to the other side of the 

"i- International Journal of Public Health, Vol. II, No. 6, 
1921. 

35 



36 Heredity and Child Culture 

question, namely the endeavor to increase the 
fertility of the stocks above the average in racial 
value and thus to improve the average health 
of future generations, progress in this direc- 
tion would be promoted by a widespread know- 
ledge of the laws of natural inheritance. Such 
a knowledge would create a tendency to shun 
marrying into a family notably inferior in men- 
tal or physical qualities, and this tendency ought 
to be encouraged. . . . Sexual selection has 
often in nature produced marvelous changes 
in both the minds and the bodies of animals, and 
by the aid of conscious efforts sexual selection 
could be made to produce far more beneficial 
results to the human race than it is doing at 
present." 

He thus believes that natural heredity can be 
utilized as an agency for promoting the wel- 
fare of mankind. He also calls attention to an 
endeavor, not dependent on natural inheritance, 
namely, that of trying to improve the health 
of our descendants by preventing children from 
being infected or poisoned before birth by the 
mothers. 



Selective Breeding 37 

Sir George Newman^ makes the following 
observation, — **If we are to grow a sound and 
healthy race of men we must begin where all 
true breeding begins, at the source. If we per- 
mit ourselves to favor and provide for the un- 
guided propagation of a population of poor phy- 
sique or of persons marked from birth with the 
stigmata of alcohol, venereal disease or mental 
deficiency, we shall sooner or later discover that 
we are building on false foundations, and with- 
out taking sufficiently into our reckoning the 
laws of heredity, of transmission, and of ante- 
natal infection. ' ' 

It does not need a biologist to tell us that 
reproduction will yield the best results when 
parents are in the full vigor of life. They 
should not be too young nor too old, although 
these terms are often relative, as there are 
very marked differences in individuals as re- 
gards the phenomena of youth or age. Beyond 
this it is difficult to lay down exact laws. With 
reference to statutes regulating the age of 
marriage, seventeen states have none, but in 

^ An Outline of the Practice of Preventive Medicine — ^Min- 
istry of Health. 



38 Heredity and Child Culture 

nine of these common law has fixed the age for 
girls at twelve years. 

The tendency in modern society to postpone 
the marriage age is not regarded with favor by 
eugenists. It is largely due to economic causes 
and is especially noted among the educated and 
desirable classes. It is highly important that 
efforts should be made by some sort of social re- 
adjustment to render it easy for this class to 
marry earlier in life. Good health should be 
a prerequisite at any age. 

Another view is advanced by Casper L. Eed- 
field/ who has made an extensive statistical 
study of heredity. He believes that very early 
marriages are apt to produce children lacking 
in stamina and mental power. He considers 
that as each individual undergoes certain physi- 
cal and mental changes during life, those condi- 
tions which characterize parents at different 
ages are transmitted to the offspring produced 
at those ages. This is especially exemplified in 
mental aptitudes, as the children of youthful 
parents are usually marked by the character- 

1 Control of Heredity — ^Monarch Book Co. 



Selective Breeding 39 

istics of youth while the children of older par- 
ents show more of the characteristics of age. 
Older parents are thus apt to have intelligent 
offspring and many historical examples of 
this are cited, from Aristotle to Benjamin 
Franklin. 

The following quotation will exemplify his 
belief on this subject, — ^^The period of adoles- 
cence is a period of sexual intensity and 
passion, and a child born of parents at this age 
has the sexual instincts abnormally developed, 
the same as we have aggressiveness from 
parents of 25, the love of the beautiful from 
parents of 35, reasoning and practical useful- 
ness from parents of 45, and morality and philo- 
sophy from parents over 50." 

Contrary to Weismann, Eedfield believes that 
traits directly acquired by the efforts of the in- 
dividual himself can be transmitted. He finally 
states the following, — ^*A11 that you have 
learned and all that you have accomplished 
can and will be transmitted to future genera- 
tions by others through the medium of records. 
But in whatever measure you have developed 
your body and your mind by patient and long- 



40 Heredity and Child Culture 

continued efforts, that measure can be trans- 
mitted only by yourself to your descendants, 
and whatever honor these descendants achieve 
in the future, that honor will be your honor.'* 

It must be confessed that a discussion on the 
proper conditions of mating is always largely 
academic as marriages are usually not con^ 
tracted by reason but by passion or self-inter- 
est. The preliminaries are approached as the 
result of affinity or liking and not with the idea 
of breeding in mind. As the race advances in 
knowledge and control, however, the latter 
will be kept more in view. After all, 
it is what to avoid in mating that assumes 
the principal importance. 

Some States are now beginning to require a 
medical examination and certificate before 
marriage is permitted. This is good as far as it 
goes, but it must be remembered that the dis- 
eases for which the examination is especially 
made are not passed along by organic inheri- 
tance. They are infections that, in an active 
state, can be passed directly from one parent 
to the other, or from mother to child before, 



Selective Breeding 41 

during, or after birth. Pathogenic bacteria 
are not incorporated in the germ plasm itself. 
Syphilis and tuberculosis are the most impor- 
tant infections that may in this way be passed 
along. While venereal and constitutional dis- 
eases are thus spread by direct infection, they 
may eventually so poison the germ plasm itself 
that the offspring will be feeble and ailing 
although not having a specific disease. The 
lesson from all this is that candidates for 
marriage should always be obliged by the State 
to submit to a thorough medical examination to 
prove not only their freedom from specific infec- 
tions but that their systems have not been 
unduly weakened from previous attacks of con- 
stitutional disease. Applicants for marriage 
licenses should be obliged to prove that they 
are physically as well as financially fit for 
marriage. 

Perhaps the next great danger consists in the 
inheritance of various neurotic tendencies. 
While nervous disease itself may not be passed 
along, certain abnormal and unstable states may 
eventuate in various forms of insanity, as well 



42 Heredity and Child Culture 

as in feeble-mmdedness, epilepsy and mania. 
These are generally considered to act as Mendel- 
ian recessives. Professor Conklin believes 
there is often an hereditary basis for nervous 
or phlegmatic temperaments, for emotional, 
judicial and calculating dispositions, for 
strength or weakness of will, for tendencies to 
moral obliquity or rectitude, and for capa- 
city or incapacity for the highest intellec- 
tual pursuits. There is great danger of close 
blood relatives marrying when a neurotic 
strain runs in the family. When free of this 
danger, however, evil consequences to the off- 
spring do not always follow. 

There is a large class in every community that 
should in some way be prevented by the State 
from propagating their kind. The reason for. 
this is readily seen in the danger and expense 
they put upon the community at large. 

The insane, idiotic, blind and deaf mutes 
tend to increase faster in proportion than the 
normal healthy population. Paupers and the 
various grades of criminal poptulation also 
freely propagate. A careful study of prisoners 



Selective Breeding 43 

has shown that a majority are in a condition of 
impaired heMth, that many are in an unsound 
mental condition and inclined to grave diseases 
of the neurotic type which tend to modify the 
physical, mental and moral condition from bad 
inheritance. 

Perhaps the greatest danger exists in the case 
of feeble-mindedness. It has been estimated 
that there are 200,000 feeble-minded persons 
in the United States. Of this large number 
fully nine-tenths are under no control and thus 
are able to produce their kind. It is from this 
vast army that criminals, prostitutes and pau- 
pers are recruited. These classes have an 
imperfect development of the higher areas of 
the brain and a moral instability that often 
seems impossible to correct. They cannot 
adjust themselves to proper social standards 
and quickly become incorrigible when tempta- 
tions or unusual demands present themselves. 
Unfortunately, their condition does not pre- 
clude reproduction but rather favors it from 
lack of conscience and control. 

One of the great problems of the day is how 



44 Heredity and Child Culture 

to check this tainted stream not only for the 
good of society but for the defectives them- 
selves. A plan favored by some is to subject 
them to sterilization. This has been tried 
in a limited way, but it need hardly be said 
there are great social and legal difficulties in the 
way of its general adoption. A recent judicial 
decision in Oregon holds that the steriliza- 
tion law adopted by that State is unconstitu- 
tional. 

Is there no other way of handling these defec- 
tives, who are often as prolific as they are 
undesirable? Many years ago I advised that 
they be permanently quarantined.^ If this were 
done, in one or two decades they would die out, 
and the world would be free of its principal 
source of criminals and defectives. This class 
should be permanently isolated from the rest 
of society. According to this aspect, the ques- 
tion of responsibility or punishment does not 
enter into the question at all. It is simply 
society protecting itself. Hence a perplexing 
and uncertain problem is thereby removed. 

i"The Survival of the Unfit," Popular Science Monthly, 
June, 1892. 



Selective Breeding 45 

Legislation in Ohio adjudges a person an habit- 
ual criminal when convicted of a third offense, 
under which conviction he may be held for life. 
This law is based upon sound physiology and 
psychology. Such a quarantine should be 
applied to all tramps, crants and generally 
worthless beings. Society must do this for pro- 
tection, not punishment; to avoid their con- 
tamination; and, above all, to prevent the pro- 
pagation of their kind. Advanced sociology 
will devote its principal energy to preventing 
the reproduction of the unfit, and, if any are 
produced, by proper isolation see to it that 
they do not survive beyond one generation. 
Here lies the only solution of a very difficult 
problem, — ^first, try prevention; next, perma- 
nent isolation. 

Finally, it is certain that the responsibility of 
bringing children into the world is usually not 
taken seriously enough. To produce offspring 
handicapped by diseased tendencies or without' 
the ability to give them proper nutrition or 
training is really race suicide that we hear so 
often condemned. Among 1258 living descend- 
ants of Max Jukes, there were 310 paupers, 



46 Heredity and Child Culture 

600 feeble-minded, and over 300 prostitutes. 
If simply bringing large numbers of children 
into the world is admirable, certain social and 
ecclesiastical lawgivers might think that the 
older Jukes, reprobate though he was, did his 
duty by the State. It is quality not quantity 
that is to be sought in children. 

If parents cannot properly raise large 
families, they should not be encouraged to pro- 
duce them. It is actually found that the poorest 
and frequently the least desirable elements in 
the population are apt to have the largest num- 
ber of children, for which they frequently 
receive undeserved praise. I once made a 
study of the size of families in connection with 
1000 children who came under my hospital care 
in the lower East Side of New York. There 
were 557 large families (more than five mem- 
bers) and 443 small families (less than five mem- 
bers) on the list. An interesting point was that 
the families earning the higher wages were 
small; while the large families were 
almost invariably in the low-wage class. In the 
latter, the income was always insufficient to 



Selective Breeding 47 

maintain a proper standard of living. This 
will be of interest to the advocates of birth con- 
trol, and certainly, as far as the married among 
the very poor are concerned, there is much to 
be said in its favor. There is nothing admira- 
ble in bringing forth children who are born to 
suffering and only destined to fill our hospitals 
and asylums, whose emaciated little bodies 
soon find fortunate rest in Potter's field. This 
is not so much race suicide as race homicide. 



CHAPTER V 



THE BEGINNHS-G OF LIFE 



An independent life starts by the union of the 
sperm cell and ovum. The greatest miracle of 
nature has now taken place, — conception. It 
has been well said that at the instant of concep- 
tion the gates of heredity are closed. 

It is wonderful to think that by a combination 
of two tiny cells a life may be inaugurated that 
can develop into a vigorous adult. When we 
see a grown child bearing a striking physical 
resemblance to one or both parents it is hard 
to realize that this resemblance had its origin 
in two minute germ cells through which have 
passed the stream of heredity. 

The male cell is microscopic, the relation in 
size being about as 100,000 to 1 in comparison 
to the ovum. Yet this spermatozoan, micro- 
scopic as it is, yields abundant energy and starts 
life in the ovum which contains the material to 

4S 



The Beginning of Life 49 

nourish the beginning existence. Dr. Charles 
Mercier ^ aptly puts it thus, — ^^My hypothesis 
is that the contributions of these two elements 
(sperm cell and germ cell) to the product differ 
in this way : the female element contributes the 
substance or matter of the offspring; the male 
element contributes the force or energy that 
animates the matter. The female element is 
the coals in the grate ; the male element is the 
match that sets them alight.'^ 

After conception, a series of marvelous 
changes rapidly takes place. From the first 
dawn of life to full development, there is con- 
stantly going on a remarkable series of rapid 
evolutions that are not only fraught with the 
greatest interest but accompanied by the largest 
possibilities. 

In the course of development before birth, the 
human embryo passes through different stages 
of resemblance to a similar period of evolution 
in the lower animals. In various earlier stages, 
the human embryo can hardly be distinguished 
from the embryonic fish, reptile, and the lower 

1 Lancet, November 8, 1913. 



50 Heredity and Child Culture 

and higher mammals. The human embryo, 
however, rapidly passes through these lower 
stages, accomplishing in a few hours or days 
a development that required innumerable ages 
for the lower forms of life and which rep- 
resented their completed life achievement. 
The whole natural history of life is thus 
sketched and molded in a growing human fetus, 
each step in advance being duly chronicled by 
a higher stage of evolution, the pedigree of one 
form going back to simpler previous forms. 
As geology can trace back the earlier physical 
conditions of the earth by examining various 
strata on the surface, so the biologist by study- 
ing different stages of growth in the human 
embryo can see traces of numberless lower 
forms of life that have long since vanished, 
each, however, making its humble contribution 
to the ascending scale. All these phantom 
lives have had their share, infinitesimal though 
it be, in forming the acme of animal life, — the 
human embryo. 

As growth progresses, the immature human 
being rapidly advances from these lower forms, i 



The Beginning of Life 51 

however, until at birth all resemblance to the 
lower stages of life ceases and the infant gives 
evidence of the highest possibilities. These 
phenomena show the human infant to be the 
microcosm or summing up of all created life. 
Even at birth the infant is not a completely- 
formed human being, but from this time on the 
difference from the lower forms of life becomes 
most startling. 

After nine months of intra-uterine life the 
infant is sufficiently developed to branch forth 
in an independent existence. During this 
period, however, the mother is a trustee not 
only of her own health but of the well-being 
and development of the rapidly forming infant. 

Pre-Natal Care 

Constant oversight should be exercised over 
the pregnant woman, not only on her own ac- 
count but in the interest of the unborn child. 
Control of the pre-natal period has proven to 
be a most important factor in reducing infant 
morbidity and mortality. Owing to a lack of 
skilled supervision, maternal deaths and deaths 



52 Heredity and Child Culture 

of infants from maternal causes have not de- 
creased in proportion to the lessened death 
rate of later infancy. The Children's Bureau 
of Washington reports that in a study of rural 
areas of six different states, 80 per cent, of 
the mothers had received no trained oversight 
during pregnancy. The witty aphorism of Dr. 
Holmes that the proper time to begin the treat- 
ment of many diseases is one hundred years 
before birth might be paraphrased into the idea 
that an available peijiod of nine months can be 
utilized in trying to produce a healthy infant. 
Of deaths occurring under one year, over 40 per 
cent, are due to unfavorable congenital condi- 
tions. Of all deaths during the first month of 
life, 80 per cent, are due to causes associated 
with prematurity or congenital diseases, de- 
formities or malformations. Thus among all 
babies dying under one year, over one-third 
die before they are one month old. Most of 
these babies die because they are too feeble or 
sickly to survive, and this in turn may be 
caused by improper oversight of the mother. 
It is especially during the latter months of 



The Beginning of Life 53 

pregnancy that extra care must be observed. 
Every woman is entitled to adequate super- 
vision up to the time of the birth of her child 
as well as during and after its birth. The life 
that comes before birth must have about as 
much attention as the life that follows birth. 
Not only for the sake of the child, but a need- 
lessly large mortality on the part of the mother 
may thus be avoided. 

The importance of this subject is now being 
recognized and prenatal clinics are being con- 
ducted by departments of health to look after 
those who cannot afford private advice. Ma- 
ternal welfare centres, under private manage- 
ment, are also being conducted with excellent 
results. Every woman who can afford a regu- 
lar attending physician should be under his con- 
stant care during all of this period, instead of 
waiting until the time of labor is approaching. 
The importance of proper regulation at this 
time will be appreciated when we consider an 
estimate that 20,000 maternal deaths due to 
child birth and 200,000 deaths of infants 
occurred during 1920 in the United States. 



54 Heredity and Child Culture 

Outside of the stated examinations of various 
kinds, a quiet, hygienic life is most desirable. 
In general, the mother should maintain herself 
in as good a condition of health as possible 
while she is carrying the child. All the func- 
tions of her body must be satisfactorily per- 
formed. No social or household duties must be 
allowed to interfere with this principal business 
of her life. 

At this period it is well for her to thoroughly 
systematize her life so that the best results 
will be obtained. Plenty of pure, fresh air is 
essential. Her living and sleeping rooms must 
be well ventilated and she should take the outer 
air in daily walks or drives, or by sitting much 
on the piazza during warm weather. Eegular 
exercise is very beneficial, but nothing severe 
or jolting should be allowed. Plenty of rest 
and sleep is desirable. The night's sleep should 
include at least eight hours and more if desired. 
It is also well to lie down and rest for a season 
in the middle of the day. 

The clothing must be comfortable and loose- 
fitting, especially avoiding any undue pressure 



The Beginning of Life 55 

upon the chest or abdomen. Clothing that is 
so arranged as to be suspended largely from 
the shoulders is well adapted for this period. 
Shoes with low heels should be worn, as the 
high heels in vogue put an undue strain upon 
the spine and lower abdomen. 

There is no scientific proof that special forms 
of diet have any influence upon the development 
of the child, but the food should be nourishing 
and digestible. The free drinking of pure water 
between meals and at bedtime is beneficial by 
keeping the kidneys in good working order. 
The bowels must act once daily at regular time. 

Special care should be given to the breasts 
and nipples. Breast feeding after birth often 
fails from lack of early attention. Tender nip- 
ples that soon become cracked or sore, or de- 
pressed nipples that cannot be grasped by the 
infant, often result in nursing failures. We 
must always remember that the loss of breast 
feeding is an important cause of infant mor- 
tality. By gentle massage of the nipples dur- 
ing the last few months of pregnancy, perhaps 
with cocoa-butter or vaseline, and by using 



56 Heredity and Child Culture 

weak alcohol solutions if necessary to toughen 
the tender skin, we can do much to enable the 
nipple to function well when the time comes. 

The influence the mind exerts on the body is 
recognized by all physicians, and therefore it 
is well that the future mother should keep as 
cheerful and composed as possible. To this end, 
she should be kept from undue cares and wor- 
ries and have as bright surroundings as cir- 
cumstances will allow. Strong mental excite- 
ment and unrepressed emotions have a bad 
effect at this time. It is right to add, however, 
that the bugbear of *^ maternal impressions'^ 
producing some subtle and disastrous influence 
on the unborn infant has no scientific basis. 

In a general way, the care of the future child 
is taking place during the whole of the previous 
life of the mother, but in a very special way is 
such care obvious while she is carrying the baby. 
The problem of the child begins with concep- 
tion and ends with adolescence and of all these 
periods that of pregnancy is one of the most 
neglected. 

Modem asepsis has robbed child birth of 



The Beginning of Life 57 

much of its dangers for the mother, but still 
the greatest care must be exercised at this time. 
Danger to the child often results from too great 
a prolongation of labor. As a consequence of 
long pressure, a rupture of some of the delicate 
blood vessels on the surface of the brain may- 
ensue and the child thereby be handicapped 
for life. Holmes once described the female pel- 
vis as the triumphal arch through which the 
new-born infant first passed to greet the world. 
If this arch is too narrow for comfortable exit, 
it may require some skilful surgery to deliver 
the child intact. 



CHAPTER VI 



THE DEVELOPING PERIOD 



The practical problem of evolution consists in 
regulating biological heredity as far as possible 
and then in trying to produce conditions that 
will enable social heredity to act to the best ad- 
vantage. 

This must start with an inquiry as to the 
usual physical and mental characteristics that 
go with a good heredity, biological or social, or 
both. In other words, what may be considered 
an average normal condition for the infant 
and growing child? In this way we may de- 
termine, at least, whether a favorable social 
heredity is present in each case. We cannot 
alter biological heredity, but we can and should 
aim to correct a faulty social heredity if such 
exists. The latter may be shown by physical 
or mental under-development. 

58 



The Developing Period 59 

Growth During Infancy 

The infant should start life with rapid 
growth. During' the first year there is a greater 
proportional growth to initial size than at any 
other time of life. This is due to an extremely 
rapid proliferation of body cells and not to 
cell enlargement that comes after two or three 
years. Any condition that interferes with 
growth, such as an insufficient diet or intercur- 
rent illness, should be averted by all the care 
that can be rendered. It has been observed that 
colds, bronchitis, ear trouble, indigestion or 
constipation will inhibit growth when these con- 
ditions last for two or three weeks. 

It is important to have a record of the birth 
weight in every case. The male infant usually 
weighs a little more than the female. In a 
series of 200 cases that I examined, the males 
weighed from six to eight pounds, and the fe- 
males from five and a half to seven pounds. 
As many of these infants were bom in institu- 
tions, the averages of light weight were fairly 
large. Seven pounds may be considered a good 
average birth weight, although this may be 



6o Heredity and Child Culture 

exceeded by vigorous infants. As far as initial 
weight may be considered a gauge of vitality, 
six and a half pounds will show a good vitality, 
five and a half pounds a rather poor one, and 
from four to five pounds a very poor vitality at 
the start. 

Some infants are bom with small bones, per- 
haps in this respect resembling one or both 
parents. The birth weight of such an infant, 
as well as that attained later, will be less than 
that of a baby having a larger bony framework. 
Different races, as well as families, show con- 
siderable variation in this respect. Needless 
alarm is sometimes excited if the physician or 
mother merely consider averages that are taken 
from a different class or community and hence 
do not particularly apply to the baby under con- 
sideration. This fact may be considered in con- 
nection with relative weights and heights at all 
ages. In every case, the extremely rapid 
growth of the infant after birth makes careful 
observation of all the phenomena connected 
therewith not only interesting but important. 

During the first few days there is generally a 



The Developing Period 6i 

loss of from four to six ounces, after which there 
should be a steady gain. It must be remem- 
bered, however, that babies are apt to gain 
irregularly at short intervals. One day the 
infant may show a gain of an ounce and the next 
day a quarter of that amount while doing per- 
fectly well. Again, the weight may remain sta- 
tionary for a day or so and then jump up two 
ounces in twenty-four hours. There should at 
least be an average weekly gain during the first 
five months of about four and a half ounces 
to seven ounces, and from five to twelve months 
of about two and a half to four and a half 
ounces. 

The infant should double its birth weight at 
five or six months, and treble it at twelve to 
fifteen months. The weighing should be done 
by the same person either on grocer's scales 
or lever scales specially constructed for infants. 
Daily weighings are often deceptive and unde- 
sirable. During the first six months once a 
week is sufficient, and in the second six months 
once in two weeks is often enough in cases that 
are doing well. Careful records should be kept, 



62 Heredity and Child Culture 

and charting is convenient for reference. 

The length of the new-born baby is slightly 
greater in the male than in the female. In 
private practice, with healthy parents, the 
length will average about twenty inches. 
Growth in length is most rapid during the first 
month, a little less so during the second month, 
and rapidly decreases during each succeeding 
month. During the first year there is a growth 
in length of about eight inches, and in the 
second year of about three and a half inches. 

Just after birth, the trunk, arms, legs and 
head have peculiar conformations. The body 
is of an elliptical shape, with the widest part at 
about the centre over the liver, in the region of 
the lower ribs. The two ends of the ellipse, 
represented by the chest and pelvis, are rela- 
tively small and not well developed. The arms 
are stronger and better developed than the legs. 
During intra-uterine life the baby is placed in a 
sort of squatting position with the legs drawn 
up and curled inward. This explains why the 
legs of the young infant are not straight but 
show a decided bowing inward. The soles of 



The Developing Period 63 

the feet also tend to point inward. The head 
is larger than the chest at this time, with a very 
short neck, and the baby assumes a position of 
general flexion. 

While infants at birth may vary in size, each 
individual should develop in proper proportion, 
the various parts of the body bearing a sym- 
metrical relationship to one another. Thus 
the circumference of the head is greater than the 
circumference of the chest, and remains so up 
to the middle of the first year, when they begin 
to approximate in size. At the end of the first 
year, the chest should expand to a greater cir- 
cumference than the head. If later than this 
time the circumference of the head remains 
greater than that of the chest, it is an indica- 
tion of faulty development. The sutures of the 
skull should be ossified by the end of the sixth 
month, and the opening in the head known as the 
anterior fontanelle closes from the sixteenth to 
the eighteenth month. Any deformities of the 
head due to prolonged pressure and difficult 
labors are usually overcome during the first few 
weeks. After birth and with increase in age. 



64 Heredity and Child Culture 

there is noted a gradual and steady enlargement 
of the great circumference of the skull, and, 
from this, of its estimated volume. Although 
no intellectual growth can be said to take place 
under two years, there should be an active evolu- 
tion of the front of the brain with increase of 
the perceptions. The first rapid growth of the 
brain after birth is more in bulk than in the size 
and complexity of its convolutions. Hence in 
early infancy the higher centres have but a 
slight development and function. With proper 
evolution, the convolutions grow and become 
arranged in functional groups, which groups, 
by their development, alter and modify the 
shape of the infantile skull. If the skull is small 
or improperly shaped in any part, the brain in 
such area is imperfectly developing. A certain 
amount of asymmetry is, however, found in all 
skulls as in other structures of the body and, 
unless very marked, has no great significance. 

The principle of biology that the develop- 
ment of the individual reproduces on a small 
scale the development of the race is well shown 
in the infant's brain. The higher centres and 



The Developing Period 65 

the association fibres are developed late in the 
child ; they are likewise the latest acquirements 
of the race. The lower and more fundamental 
animal traits are transmitted by inheritance in 
greater degree than the higher ones. 

In the human being, the brain assumes over- 
mastering importance in the scheme of evolu- 
tion, hence its proper growth and development 
are relatively of much more importance than 
that of other parts of the body. The extremely 
rapid evolution of the brain during infancy, 
and the fact that the future efficiency and well- 
being of the child depend largely upon its nor- 
mal and healthy growth renders the study of 
the infantile head of great interest. As the 
skull is fairly representative of the brain dur- 
ing the years of its first development, measure- 
ments taken during infancy are more instruc- 
tive as to brain size and evolution than those 
taken in later years. The skull changes con- 
siderably in its proportions during the first 
years of life, and then more slowly up to the 
end of the seventh year when it has very nearly 
attained its full size. At birth, the circumf er- 



66 Heredity and Child Culture 

ence of the head averages from thirteen to four- 
teen inches ; at the end of the second year, about 
eighteen inches; at the seventh year, about 
twenty and a half inches, and at the completion 
of growth twenty-two or more inches. 

The spinal column is curved but very Jflexi- 
ble. In early infancy, the so-called normal 
curves are not developed above the pelvis but 
there is one long curve in the shape of a general 
convexity. As the child grows older, the spine 
becomes less flexible and more rigid with in- 
creased power in the spinal muscles. There is, 
however, much more flexibility all through early 
life than obtains in later years. 

In the musculature, the greatest relative 
strength is shown in the hands and arms for a 
time after birth. At about three months, the 
muscles of the neck have developed sufficiently 
to allow the infant to hold up its head in an un- 
certain way. At the seventh or eighth months, 
the muscles of the back have become strength- 
ened so that the baby can sit up, and shortly 
after this it may be allowed to creep. Free play 
should be given to the muscles of the arms and 



The Developing Period 67 

legs from the first, as muscular and bony de- 
velopment are thereby encouraged. The bones 
of the leg thus grow and straighten out, but this 
will be checked if the infant is allowed to sus- 
tain the weight of the body too soon. The 
average baby should not be allowed to stand 
before the twelfth month. Efforts to walk may 
be encouraged from then on to the fifteenth or 
sixteenth months. When walking has been es- 
tablished, the legs should be straight. 

The process of dentition begins early in intra- 
uterine life. The cutting of the temporary or 
milk teeth usually begins about the sixth or 
seventh month and should be completed at the 
end of infancy. 

It must be remembered that a healthy infant 
will always grow both in height and weight. 
While increase in weight is properly regarded 
as evidence of good development, it is possible 
that relatively too much starch or sugar in the 
diet may produce fat at the expense of bone, 
muscle and gland. Firmness of tissues and 
proper growth of the long bones must thus be 
considered in connection with increase in weight. 



68 Heredity and Child Culture 

Height and Weight of WIhite Infants 

White Boys White Girls 

Height Weight Height Weight 
Age (inches) (pounds) (inches) (pounds) 

Under 1 month.... 21% 9% 20% 8% 

3 months 241/2 14% 24 13 

6 mjonths 26% 171/2 26% I614 

9 months 28% 19% 27% I81/3 

12 months 291/3 21% 28% 20 

15 months 30% 22% 30% 213/3 

18 months 31% 24% 31% 22% 

21 months 32% 251/2 3214 24% 

24 months 33% 26% 33% 25% 

These figures are based on measurements of 
a very large number of infants in whom no 
serious defects were reported, collected by the 
Federal Children's Bureau.^ They closely 
agree with measurements of 3448 normal babies 
in 23 states prepared by Mr. F. S. Crum for the 
American Medical Association. 

Conserving Infant Life 

In working for infants we will be enabled to 
get an important side light on general social con- 
ditions. The infant and little child have always 
offered the best approach to a study of both 
medical and social problems. They connect di- 

lU. S. Department of Labor, Children's Bureau. No. 84. 



The Developing Period 69 

rectly with all lines of social inquiry, — hous- 
ing, food, parenthood, the wage problem, 
faulty hygiene in tenement or town, educa- 
tion and every other factor in community 
Hfe. 

One of the most fruitful social movements of 
the day is thus connected with the saving and 
conserving of infant life. There has been a 
marked lessening both in morbidity and mor- 
tality of infants as the result of these efforts. 
Thus in New York City there has been a reduc- 
tion in the infant mortality rate from 273.6 per 
1000 children bom in 1885 to 81.6 in 1919, and 
71.1 in 1921. This decline has been aided by 
such factors as more breast feeding, baby 
health station service, careful oversight of 
cows' milk, visiting nurses, improvement in 
municipal sanitation and better control over 
communicable disease. A lower death rate al- 
ways predicates less sickness and more vigorous 
vitality in the infants who live. While deaths 
among older babies have decreased, the number 
of infant deaths during the first month has not 
lessened, but at times has even increased, which 
shows that the prenatal and natal periods have 



70 Heredity and Child Culture 

not been equally watched. The reason that five 
times as many babies die in the first month as 



Bab7 Deatb-rates per 1,000 Acooftflog to Pat 
W^es. CombliMd Figures for Sight Cttki. 



to Pathet't 



170 
160 
150 
140 
130 
120 
UO 
100 
90 
80 
70 
60 





=:JLJncler$450 



E_S450to$549 



®S§^ 



4_S550 to S649 
650 to $849 



t-S850toS1049 
.E050toS1249 

1250 & over 




As Wages Decrease the Baby 
Death-raie Rises. 



in the second, and fourteen times as many as in 
the twelfth, is that parents are unhealthy or the 



The Developing Period 71 

mothers were not given proper oversight and 
care during pregnancy. This early mortality 
can be much reduced by instructing the mother 
how to stimulate breast feeding during the first 
months after birth, and by better methods of 
hygiene and artificial feeding. 

Infants and little children are always the most 
sensitive to bad environment. They are like- 
wise the first to suffer from poor economic con- 
ditions. The Federal Children's Bureau has 
shown graphically how the infant death rate 
goes up as wages go down. 

In a study of 3700 cases of serious illness in 
infants and little children treated in the hospital 
in a long series of years, I ^ found the causes 
along three broad lines, — ^insufficient earnings, 
bad housing and ignorance of the parents. Pov- 
erty and sickness too often go hand in hand. 
The Charity Organization Society has found 
that fully two-thirds of the cases of poverty 
it is called on to investigate depend, directly or 
indirectly, on sickness. There is a shifting and 

1 "The Relation Between the Child and Hospital Social 
Service" — Journal of the American Medical Associationf 
July 23, 1921. 



72 Heredity and Child Culture 

alternating relationship of cause and effect 
between them. It is interesting to note how this 
vicious circle works at different ages. Thus, 
while in adult years, sickness is one of the prin- 
cipal causes of poverty, in childhood poverty is 
one of the principal causes of sickness. 

It is evident that infant salvage is closely in- 
ter-related with economic and social conditions. 
To save the baby and conserve the beginning 
life we may have to go far afield in a study 
of life conditions. About 300,000 babies under 
one year die every year in this country. There 
is still much to be done. Putting it in another 
way, it has been estimated that in the United 
States twelve babies out of every hundred, under 
the age of twelve months, die every year. In 
the great World War less than two men out of 
every hundred were killed in battle. During 
this time, accordingly, a soldier in the trenches 
was six times as safe as the baby in the slums. 
This shows that social heredity, — in other words 
environment, — has yet much to do in conserving 
infant life. A most beneficial and far-reaching 



The Developing Period 73 

element in this work is that general social 
amelioration must both accompany and follow 
these efforts. The baby may yet lead the way 
in social reconstruction. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE PRB-SOHOOL AGE 

In a study of the developing period of life, 
two gaps have occurred in which sufficient over- 
sight has not been given. Attention has already- 
been directed to the first of these periods, — 
the time before birth. The second compara- 
tively neglected period is the pre-school age, 
— from two to six years. Boards of health and 
welfare stations have concentrated on the in- 
fant with a result of lowering infant morbidity 
and mortality; school physicians and nurses 
have given oversight to older children, but the 
pre-school child has fallen between these two 
periods. Even well-to-do people, who do not 
depend on public agencies for medical over- 
sight, are apt to give too little attention to the 
child before entrance into school. The baby is 
so helpless that constant advice is sought, and 
now most private as well as public schools have 

74 



The Pre-School Age 75 

physicians who exercise some oversight over 
child development, but the little nm-about is 
too often left to his own devices. 

This is a most unfortunate state of affairs, 
because we are here dealing with a most impor- 
tant age. During infancy growth is steady and 
rapid, but in childhood it is relatively slower 
and takes place more in cycles. It depends very 
largely upon good heredity and a healthy, well 
nourished state during the first years of life. 
Biological researches show that favorable em- 
bryonic conditions and good nutrition during the 
earliest years have the greatest influence in de- 
termining the full height and development of 
the individual. If a child is fortunate in its 
birth and is well nourished up to the fifth 
or sixth years, there will probably be a healthy 
growth thereafter, as, even if there are poor 
conditions later on, nature will probably be 
able to compensate and make up for them. 
Each person has a certain normal size to attain, 
which will usually be reached if the first years 
have been favorable. Nothing will completely 
make up, however, for early unfavorable con- 
ditions. 



76 Heredity and Child Culture 

The following table that I have prepared 
from data collected by the Federal Children's 
Bureau will give some idea of the development 
that was found among a large number of Ameri- 
can children from two to six years of age. 

Height and Weight of White Children (2 to 6 Yeaes)' 

White Boys White Girls 

Height Weight Height Weight 
Age (inches) (pounds) (inches) (pounds) 

25 months 33% 27 S3% 251/3 

3 years 36% 30% 36^4 291/2 

4 years 39^ 341/2 38% 33% 

5 years 41% 38% 413/8 36% 

6 years 43% 41% 43% 401/2 



In a study of nearly 40,000 children of pre- 
school age in Iowa, it was found that the boys 
from birth to six years were uniformly taller 
and heavier at all ages than the girls. It was 
also noted that the percents of total stature 
and weight at six years showed that the height 
doubled in these cases during the first six years 
after birth and the weight increased four times. 
The rural Iowa children were above the urban 
ones in stature and weight from birth to six 
years. 



The Pre-School Age 77 

The years of the pre-schcol age, before six, 
represent a critical time in reference to future 
development. The frequent magnitude of the 
problem may be realized when we consider the 
estimate that there are about half a million 
children of the pre-school age in New York 
City. These children should all be carefully 
examined twice a year in order to recognize 
any condition or defect that can usually be cor- 
rected at the start. 

It is now believed by many observers that 
numerous defects and degenerations of later 
life have their real origin from some infection 
or other unfortunate condition during the first 
few years. For example, it is held that few 
adults have escaped infection by the tubercle 
bacillus, but the disease becomes latent and 
harmless unless a diminished resistance has 
been inherited or the general health much de- 
pressed. It is further believed that the original 
focus of infection is nearly always started dur- 
ing the early years. In making autopsies on 
mal-nourished children in the hospital, I have 
nearly always found some tuberculous focus 



78 Heredity and Child Culture 

even in cases of death from other causes. The 
(first inception of this insidious malady almost 
always comes at the beginning of life. If the 
general vitality is conserved, however, nothing 
but a harmless encapsulated spot will usually 
remain, but at the same time every effort must 
be made to keep the body from infection. 

What is true of tuberculosis is true of all 
other infections. Measles and whooping-cough 
are two of the most dangerous diseases of this 
age as regards ultimate effects. This is the 
most susceptible period of life to all communi- 
cable disease. Young protoplasm affords a vir- 
gin and favorable soil for the growth of bac- 
teria and the spread of all kinds of virus. In 
this respect, the pre-school child is much more 
susceptible than the infant or the older child. 
One of the common diseases of early life, diph- 
theria, well shows this peculiarity. It has been 
found that over 90 per cent, of newborn infants 
are immune to this disease, 70 per cent, during 
the first year, while somewhat over half fail to 
contract the disease on exposure later in child- 
hood. Immunity from infection of most kinds 



The Pre-School Age 79 

seems to be conferred upon the baby by inheri- 
tance from its mother, and this lasts for vary- 
ing periods but not long after infancy. 

Another fact to be considered is that the run- 
about is naturally more exposed from moving 
around and possibly coming in close contact 
with scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, 
and other communicable diseases. While these 
affections may not kill, they frequently leave 
sequelae that handicap the future life of the in- 
dividual. 

Other common conditions that frequently 
start and develop during this period of life are 
enlarged and diseased tonsils, adenoids at the 
vault of the pharnyx that interfere with respira- 
tion, and sluggishly inflamed lymph glands in 
various parts of the body. 

Beginning caries of the teeth from insuffi- 
cient care may also have serious consequences. 
The temporary teeth need special attention not 
only in starting proper mastication, but because 
the permanent teeth are lodged in the jaw 
just above them and the latter are liable to be- 
come affected by disease of the former. Good 



8o Heredity and Child Culture 

digestion is dependent on good teeth and various 
constitutional affections are known to come from 
disease and pus pockets about the roots of the 
teeth. 

The various gastro-intestinal diseases, from 
careless feeding and poor hygiene, are very- 
common with the little child. A careful over- 
sight of the infant's bottle too ofte(n 'gives 
place to later laxity in feeding. The selection 
and administration of food is often left to igno- 
rant servants or nurses. As a result, various 
forms of malnutrition and even deficiency dis- 
eases may ensue. Anemia, mal-development, 
and various nerve affections are apt to follow 
along in this path. 

This is the time to develop a correct posture, 
and the child must be taught how to stand and 
sit erect, as such habits last through life. Minor 
curvatures of the spine, which is very supple, 
are a common cause of poor carriage and can 
easily be corrected at the beginning. 

The close connection between the pre-school 
child and the oversight that must come in the 
future has been well expressed by Dr. Sobel of 



The Pre-School Age 8i 

the New York Board of Health— ^' The Bu- 
reau of Child Hygiene has always felt that the 
best time to take care of the child's health is 
before he enters school, and that preventive and 
remedial measures, undertaken at this time,, 
would do much toward the elimination or di- 
minution of physical defects, and place him in a 
sound physical condition upon school entrance, 
to say nothing of the favorable effect upon his 
growth and development prior to school age. 
In fact, the Bureau feels that proper super- 
vision during the pre-school age bears the same 
relation to school medical inspection that proper 
pre-natal instruction and supervision bear to 
infant mortality. Just as any decided reduc- 
tion in infant mortality must come through the 
reduction of deaths from congenital diseases and 
deaths during the first month of life, through 
a constructive pre-natal programme, so any 
material reduction in the percentage of physical 
defects found in school children, and a better- 
ment of their general well-being must come 
through the care of the children before their 
entrance into school." 



CHAPTER Vm 

THE SCHOOL CHHJ) 

The child of school age enters into a long 
period which should be one of healthy growth. 
It includes the time from six years to and 
through adolescence. To be healthy, a child 
must grow both in height and weight, but this 
does not usually take place in a steady and 
uninterrupted manner, but rather in cycles that 
may be longer or shorter. 

The two principal periods of acceleration of 
growth occur during the second dentition, or 
when the permanent teeth begin to be cut, and 
at the beginning of adolescence. This roughly 
corresponds, first, with the period from six to 
nine years in boys and girls, and, second, from 
eleven to thirteen in -girls and from fourteen 
to sixteen in boys. This cycle of increase in 
height should precede and soon be followed 
by an increase in weight. In boys there is apt 

82 



The School Child 83 

to be a slackening in growth before the approach 
of puberty, usually between the tenth and 
eleventh years. Boys grow quicker in height 
than girls till between ten and eleven years, 
when girls become taller until about fourteen 
at which time boys again take the lead. Girls 
gain in weight up to ten years in about the same 
ratio as boys, but they then are apt to increase 
more rapidly than boys up to about the fifteenth 
year, when the boys attain a quicker rate and 
are then permanently heavier. There also 
tends to be some variation in growth in differ- 
ent seasons. There is usually more rapid in- 
crease in height during summer and in weight 
through the fall and spring months. This may 
be explained by the fact that summer is vaca- 
tion time with possibilities of abundant 
outdoor air and plenty of pleasant exer- 
cise. 

Whenever there is a rapid increase in height, 
the child is apt to grow thin and anemic, as the 
making of bone quickly uses up the red cor- 
puscles of the blood. These children become 
nervous and irritable, requiring extra care at 



84 Heredity and Child Culture 

home and school. Such supervision must con- 
cern itself with a carefully selected diet, plenty 
of rest, and the avoidance of intellectual over- 
stimulation. These children must never be 
pushed at school, and it may even be necessary 
to remove them for a time if they are worried 
by their studies. 

It has been proved from examinations of many 
school children that, as a rule, the heaviest and 
tallest, or those with the best physique stand 
highest in their classes and show the best intel- 
lectual development. Hence, if a child is 
poorly nourished or undeveloped, the best thing, 
even for his intellectual growth, is to focus 
attention on his body for a time and let his 
mind be temporarily neglected. Competitive 
examinations at the end of the school year, after 
the fatigue of the winter ^s work, coming at a 
time when growth is usually most active in a 
child, too often result in nervous exhaustion. 

Proper growth in the school child is measured 
by a study of the relation of height and weight. 
This gives a truer insight into normal condi- 
tions than simply taking the average height and 



The School Child 85 

weight of a large number of children and con- 
structing a table to be used as a standard. The 
latter plan has usually been followed but is sub- 
ject to certain inaccuracies that may cause un- 
due anxiety on the part of parents and teachers. 
The manner and degree of increase in height 
and weight depend to a certain extent upon 
race and climate, as well as on the size and 
physique of the parents. It is- thus evident 
that, although these average tables are of 
value, no absolute rules can be given for com- 
parison that will always apply to every child. 

A satisfactory table has been compiled by 
Dr. Thomas D. Wood and is used by the Child 
Health Organization and the U. S. Government 
publications. 

Weigh on the same date each month about 
the same hour of the day. Weights and meas- 
ures should be taken without shoes and in only 
the usual indoor clothes. Boys should remove 
their coats. 

Here is arranged a sliding scale of the rela- 
tion of height to weight, according to age, 



86 Heredity and Child Culture 

which affords a satisfactory working basis for 
reference. These measurements can easily be 
taken by parent or teacher once or twice a year 
and a fairly satisfactory guide to proper de- 
velopment thus obtained, allowance for indi- 
vidual variations having been made. 

The following are some of the conclusions 
reached after an extensive and thorough study 
of Iowa school children, ^ — * * The weight — 
height index is the most practical criterion of 
normal growth in robustness and, other condi- 
tions being normal, in general nutrition." 

With regard to height, — **For boys and girls 
from six to eighteen years of age there is a 
slight adolescent acceleration in height and 
weight. * * * * As a rule tall boys and tall 
girls reach their periods of maximum adoles- 
cent stature earlier than do short ones. * * * * 
If there is retardation before adolescence, the 
tendency is to show a rapid acceleration during 
adolescence as a compensating factor. * * * 
Tall children at any age remain relatively tall 

^Studies in Child Welfare — University of Iowa — 1921. 



HEIGHT and WEIGHT TABLE for BOYS 



Height 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


U 


-17- 


18 " 


Inches 


Yrs 

35 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


39 


36 


37 




















40 


37 


38 


39 
























41 


39 


40 


41 
























42 


41 


42 


43 


44 






















43 


43 


44 


45 


46 






















44 


45 


46 


46 


47 






















45 


47 


47 


48 


48 


49 




















46 


48 


49 


50 


50 


51 




















47 




51 


52 


52 


53 


54 


















48 




53 


54 


55 


55 


56 


57 
















49 




55 


56 


57 


58 


58 


59 
















50 






58 


59 


60 


60 


61 


62 














51 






60 
62 


61 
63 


62 
64 


63 

65 


64 
67 


65 

68 














52 








53 








66 
69 


67 
70 
73 

77 


68 
71 

74 
78 
81 
84 
87 
91 


69 
72 
75 
79 

82 
85 
88 
92 
95 
100 
105 


70 
73 

76 

80 

83 

86 

89 

93 

97 

102 

107 

113 


71 

74 

77 

81 

84 

87 

90 

94 

99 

104 

109 

115 

120 

125 

130 

134 

138 


78 

82 

85 

88 

92 

97 

102 

106 

111 

117 

122 

126 

131 

135 

139 

142 

147 

152 

157 

162 


86 
90 
94 
99 
104 
109 
114 
118 
123 
127 
132 
136 
140 
144 
149 
154 
159 
164 
169 
174 


91 
96 
101 
106 
111 
115 
119 
124 
128 
133 
137 
141 
145 
150 
155 
160 
165 
170 
175 


97 

102 
108 
113 
117 
120 
125 
129 
134 
138 
142 
146 
151 
156 
161 
166 
171 
176 




64 










55 










56 












57 












58 














69 














60 














61 












110 


62 














116 


63 














119 


64 














122 


65 
















12^6 


66 


















130 


67 


















135 


68 


















139 


69 


















143 


70 


















147 


71 




















152 


72 




















157 


73 




















162 


74 




















167 


75 




















172 


76 






















177 














.... 













fREPAREO BY DR. THOMAS O. WOOD 



About What a BOY Should Gain Each Month 



5 to 8 6 oz. 

8 to 12 8 oz. 



12 to 16 16 oz. 

16 to 18 8 oz. 



HEIGHT and 


WEIGHT TABLE for GIRLS » 


Height 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


Ifi 


17 


18 


Inches 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 
36 


Y'rs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


Yrs 


39 


34 


35 




40 


36 


37 


38 
























41 


38 


39 


40 
























42 


40 


41 


42 


43 






















43 


42 


42 


43 


44 






















44 


44 


45 


45 


46 






















45 


46 


47 


47 


48 


49 




















46 


48 


48 


49 


50 


51 




















47 




49 


50 


51 


52 


53 


















48 




51 


52 


53 


54 


55 


56 
















49 




53 


54 


55 


56 


57 


58 
















50 






56 


57 


58 


59 


60 


61 














51 






59 


60 


61 


62 


63 


64 














52 






62 


63 


64 


65 


66 


67 














53 
54 








66 
68 


67 
69 


68 
70 


68 
71 


69 

72 


70 

73 




















55 
56 
57 
58 










72 
76 


73 

77 
81 
85 


74 
78 
82 
86 


75 

79 

83 
87 


76 
80 
84 
88 


77 
81 
85 
89 


86 
90 


91 






































59 
60 
61 
62 
63 
64 
65 
66 
67 
68 
69 
70 
71 
72 












89 


90 

94 

99 

104 

109 


91 
95 
101 
106 
111 
115 
117 
119 


93 
97 
102 
107 
112 
117 
119 
121 
124 
126 
129 


94 
99 
104 
109 
113 
118 
120 
122 
126 
128 
131 
134 
138 


95 
100 
106 
111 
115 
119 
122 
124 
127 
130 
133 
136 
140 
145 


96 
102 
108 
113 
117 
120 
123 
126 
128 
132 
135 
138 
142 
147 


98 
104 
109 
114 
118 
121 
124 
127 
129 
133 
136 
139 
143 
148 














106 














111 








,. 






115 














119 














122 
















125 
















1^8 
















130 


















134 


















137 


















140 




















144 




















149 
















1 






PREPAF 


BY OR. THOMAS 0. WOOD 








About What a GIRL Should Gain Eac 


h Mo 


nth 




^GE AGE 








5 to 8 6oz. 14 to 16 




8 oz. 




8 to 11 8 oz. 16 to 18 




4 02 




11 to 14 12 oz. 










1 


Com 


right 


1918, 


hy C 


hOd i 


Health 


Orgt 


mizaU 


an 









The School Child 87 

under normal conditions. Growth in height is 
so comparatively uniform for each individual 
that the growth curve enables one to prophesy 
with a high degree of accuracy how tall a young 
child will be at subsequent years. Growth in 
height is affected by the formation and removal 
of adenoids. Prolonged disease history retards 
normal growth in stature. * * * There is a 
great probability that a tall boy or girl at six 
years will be a tall boy or girl at twelve years 
of age ; a tall boy or girl at nine or ten will be 
tall at fifteen or sixteen years of age. * * * For 
height boys have a greater variability than girls 
at all ages between seven and seventeen, except 
at twelve and seventeen ; at thirteen they are the 
same. Boys fluctuate more in variability in 
height than girls.'' 

The following are some of the conclusions 
reached as to weight, — *^ There is more in- 
dividual variation in growth in weight than in 
growth in height. Pre-adolescent acceleration 
in growth in weight precedes as a rule the pre- 
adolescent acceleration in growth in height. 



88 Heredity and Child Culture 

The pre-adolescent acceleration in growth in 
weight is earlier, chronologically, for the tall 
boys or girls than for the short ones. Growth 
in weight is affected by disease history and 
the growth and removal of adenoids. * * * The 
heavy boy or girl at six or nine or ten will 
be a heavy boy or girl six years later. * * * 
For weight boys have greater variability ex- 
cept at the ages of nine to thirteen, inclusive, 
and at sixteen and seventeen. Girls also 
fluctuate more in variability in weight than 
boys." 

These data represent conclusions reached 
after an intensive study of a fairly homogeneous 
class of white American school children in that 
state. 

Many years ago tables of the results of wide- 
spread and extensive observations throughout 
the world were published by the American 
Journal of Psychology.^ It may be of interest 
to reproduce two of them here for record and 
reference. 

1 April, 1898. 



bO to M M M M M M M h-» M M 



0(rD<rD(i>ct>(n>cD(X>ct)Ct>(T)ct)<t>ct>0ft>(rB(rt) 



^ tss o bo CO bo H-i CO bi 0:1 ^ '"-q '-a bx 
CO GO CO as h4i^ en ->q 



H-^H-ij— »i— 'CDQocncoi— ico-qcncoh-* 

CO CO bi *M CO bo CO rfs^ bo CO en *cn CO bo 
to rf^ -q 00 to en CO 



05o:io:>cnaicr«cnc7«h*i^H^t4^rfi>'* 

Ol CO r-i 00 05 rf^ to p CO Ci rf^ to ; 

o P-i o CO bo 'rfi. ^ *-q o CO CO CO • 



aio:>o:>Cic?5cnaicncncnrfi>>hl^tf:^(^* 
to to to to {-i CO •J hps- to p 00 p H^. to ; 
►f^ bo ^ o o bo ^ bo rf^ a:> ^ b:> en ^fi>. » 



g 



^^ 



o:)a5C5a>OiCnatcrfentfi-rfi'hP^i4i^rfi»'Co 

to tN3 to J-* p QO p CO J-i p ;<! en CO ^--^ p H^ 

vtcoboa^'en^enenboboenco^^bs* 
CO M CO CO Qo to en 



a5CiO:laienenOlena^^fi'l4^^^^^ 
-q -^ Hfi. M p p en CO H-i p ;-q p rfi^ 

05 M en bo '-CI bo H-i en CO bo c^ o h-* 



05c:>C5Cia5a5enenenrf^tf^i^i4i>- 

p to to I— I J-* O Ci CO J-i CO p tf^ kP^ 

to '-q *<i CO to o bs CO en to bo co ►f^^ 



aiOCiCTsaiOiOiCjienenenenenh^hP^rf^t^^ 
^ p ;<i p p p p p p ^f^ to c::>(p o^^ p 
M en hp». CO bo bo CO "--a M bo 05 bo o to h-k rfi^ bo 



C5a^C50:>a50:)C5aienenenen^|i^^^^^^;i^^^ 

to to to to to to h-i p p -a p to p ;<! p p tO 

'•<j Gi '-q b:» bo hP^ bo en bo o CO bo bo CO bo bo bo 



Cio:)Cienenenenencr^^;i>.^fi-l4^ 

_•<] p to p p ^-q p p J— I p ;<! p 

f-t '"-I bo bo bo CO o Vo CO t-^ o 



asoictjasotjenenenenrfi-hti^fli^ 

p to to M p ;-vl i4^ to p p p Hfi^ 

Ci bi a» rfi«> tfii> CO b:) bo bo rfi^ '^ co 



g 



'^ 



Boston. 
(Bowditch.) 
13,691 boys, 
10,904 girls. 



St. Louis. 

(Porter.) g 

16,295 boys, ^ 

18,059 girls ;n 

age nearest W 

birthday. S 

a 



C5o:>aienoiuienenenh4i-hf^)^rf^oo 
osentoco^OTCoi— 'poopji^topg 
bs M bo CO bx o ^ bo o o o o to CO i" 
osenocncoQoooQo 



Milwaukee. ^. 
(G. W. Peck-a^ 
ham.) 4,773 
boys, 4,891 <j 
girls. t> 

o 
c1 
xn 



►^ 



Oakland. 

Number not 

stated. 



Worcester. 

(West.) 
3,250 chil- 
dren. 



New Haven. 

(Gilbert.) 
About 50 of 
each sex for 

each age. 



tODOr-r-r-r-r-^r-r- 



cDct>a)Ct>n&(rL>a><t)(X)(X>a)<Da)(^ocr)(T><:^ 



C^ 00 QO 05 tf^ h-i QO ^ Ol CO H* c5 -^ Cn 
O OS i\0 ^ '->q ^ ^ H-i to CO CO C5 00 o 



jf^ Hfii. hfi. CO CO ^-* p 00 hf^ CO h-i S S ^^ 
05 05 en CO CO ^ to o bi o CO to bo os 



O5O50505Oi05050505CnCnCnC^ 
;~a ;-^ ;-Q ;<J ;<1 05 en to h-t 05 en CO h-i 

05 05 cn CO t-i *cn co co o '-q m co to 



O5O505CntnencnC7Tf4^4i.rfi>. 

M^CO»-*CO-<ICnCOH-'0005rf^ 
05 Oi 05 *M to to tf^ en CO *M:i^ I-' 



enenerTeni4^(4^f4:^hf^ 
;<i Kf^ to j-i CO -q en CO 
^ bi CO *M to M bo CO 



050505050505enenenenenenhf!i.rf5»-HP». 
;-q ^ 05 en CO )-* 00 05 en CO to i-a CO ;<! en 

*^ CO CO ^ 00 'hfii' ^ *-<l M *en 'rfi^ 05 05 05 05 



05050505050505enc;ienenenMi».tfi».rfi. 

CO OO 00 CO JN3 .t-* p QO 05 CO to O OO Ol jf*. 

O 00 o o 05 bo tsD 00 00 CO O o 'rfi»> ^ *en 



O50505O50^cneneneneni4ii.t|i.hfs^i^ 

05 05 ox jp*. M 00 p Hf:*. 00 h-k CO ;<J en rf^. 
CO CO <l 05 rf^ ^ CO CO I-' to to to CO I-* 



C505enc71enenenrf:».^|ii.^^ik^ti. 
to p CO ;<! rfik to M CO ;-q en 4^^ 
05 05 'rfa. en bo tf^ to to to 00 M 



050505050505enenentnenrfa.rfikrf^f4ii.hli». 
p 05 en Kfik to p ,-<i px CO M p p -q oi p j-* 
bo o bi bi CO *-a bo CO o en ox to o o to to 



Iowa. 

(Gilbert.) 
About 50 of 
each sex for 

each. age. 



Pennsylva- "^ 

. Bia. (Hall.) q 

2,434 males ^ 

^ (nude.) p 



Moscow. 
(Erisman.) 
3,212 boys, 
1,495 girls. 



P 



^ Sweden 

Commis- 

__ sion. (Key.) 3 

15,000 boys, « 

_ 3,000 girb. ® 

."^ f> 

- — O 



g 



1^ 



Denmark ^ 

Commis- o 

sion. (Her- d 

tel.) 17,134 !^ 

boys, 11,250 g 

girls. g 

QQ 



England. 

(Roberts.) 

Over 10,000 

males. 






«<jvi^^«<l^<<jV!'<i«<i«<^<<j^<<jvj^vi«<j«<i 



<V (^ Ct CO Cb 



p p p 
*-i ^ <-i 



j» p p 
•-i t-S i-j 



fO CD 

p 



OQ 00 en GC Ol CO C/3 



jropQspspj^ppPPPP 

atCnCCSQGQCQOSGQC'QOSOQOO 



b:> o\ o 'h-i *^ bo cx> bo ho to co m to m 



en CTl IN3 a:i oo oo oo oo to ;-vJ to ^ co p 
to bi o J-i l4i>' '-^i CO bo Hfii. i-i o en co ^ 



tOMOGOQO-^iascnjOlClrfi'rfi^ 
to oo (-i CD p CO GO to -q to --a CO 

bo bo CD i-i ^ CO CO ►1^ en en Qo ^ 



Mt-^Ml-^^-*OCDQo-3o:)C?5Cno^^f».rf^ 
GO en ox Oi p CO CO rfi' )4^o^ p> p\ p en h-* 

QOH-iuiocDOcocDcob:.cr>coencD^ 



t— » h-* I— ' i-j 

cocotoocDQo^^aieneni4:».hF^rfi>.co 
^ p to CO en ►f*' a> o en p CO CD Hf^ h-' oo 

bo ►f*. ►-^ o bo CO I-i CD Hji. en bo f-i bo J-A bo 



I— • I— » h-* 1— 4 

i-*i-'i— 'ocooo-<ioio:>enenHfi>.i4^rf:».co 
to CO p en -q CO ;<i 00 to a> p -q CO p oi 
oi CO a> CO 'as o bo GO rf^ If^ CO o f"-* o CO 



cocotoocoQo-q^05eneneni4i>' 

^ H-k J-* 00 ;<! p ;<! tO p p Hf*> p ."<1 

La '-vij OS t-i o hi^ CO o ^ Oi to to as 



Ml— 'OOCD<X)-:jaia5enC5ih^i4i>> 
00 ;<! p 00 00 p oo CO CO oo to GO en 

CO ^ bo CD "to *-q CO '-q to Oi to m co 



h-l h-l (— k M f-l 

rfi^COCOtOMcoGo-q-gosena^^^^^^f»' 

to CO to CO to p p 00 h- » as p p p p to 

OS to CO OS bs t-» H-i '-q o en bo OS CO o OS 

oocoenoMMrfi.^rf^co 



MMtOMOOcooo^asasenen^i>>i4^co 

pppenppico^cococo-^i— '-^pp 

oo bo "o O O O h-» OS ^ CD *en CO bx CO ^ bo 

oas^^ii►rfi>to-<loasoas 



cotOMcooooo-qososenenfii^ 

p ;-5 p H-* p to O p p to M p 

O o o ^ o CO bo ff^ o en to bo 



(-»)— lOcocDOo^asenenenhfi*., 
p p rfi. p to 1^ o to 00 CO p rfi^ 
*•<» O O O O en O *-Q GO O if^ CO 



►^ 



Boston. 
(Bowditch.) 
13,691 boys 
10.904 girls. 



t^ St. Louis. 
P" (Porter.) 

16,295 boys, 
18,059 girls: 

age nearest 
^ birthday. 



S 



t^ Milwaukee, vh 
r" (G. W. Peck « 

ham.) 4,773 
boys, 4,891 <^ 



^ 



^ 



Oakland. h 

Number not ^ 

stated. QQ 

I 

a 

o 

Worcester. S 

(West.) 3 

3,250 chil- W 

dren. w 



►=^ 



New Haven. 

(Gilbert.) 
About 50 of 
each sex for 

each age. 



to to M M H-* I— I h-' h-i H-* M M ^-* 

I— 'OCOQO^OsCnhf^COtOH-iOCOQO'^CiOltfik.CO 



10^ tO^ b3^ tS^ t2^ bO^ tO"^ tO^ t^ M^ IC^ ^J^ tS^ tS^ t^ 

(T)cpcT>o<:D(rt>ft>ft)(D(rDfT>ft>(T>(D(rt>ft>(rDtrc>ct> 



Ol to p p ;<! CO p 00 to CO h- 1 Cn 1—^ CJi 

cn as ]— I o o o "co bo (4^ ^ as "o nf^ co 



tococoH-ii— 'coco^a:laiOxc^^^ii.^^^ 
pcnH^H-'H-»!X>^^CDciDtOGOh- ^-an-i 
l4^ en O 05 CO CT) H-t ^ to h-^ h^ o 'rfi^ *a> 



►p^f^Hp^cocotoo^oooo-^iascn 
en to p oo CO p GO p p p J-* p oo 

M Oi ^ '-a bo "-q '-<i 05 '-^ en ^ i-* vjii- 



1—1 i_k i_i i_i h-i t-A 

rfi^cocotoi— ^o^xioo^-qoiaicncnrf^ 
cococn^cncocotopi— '05_hji>'^ppi 
'■<i oi i-* o CO to CO Id M o bo 'oi bo bo to 



totototoi-*ocooo;-2-aa5cncnrf^.' 

;<! p hP^ p p ;<1 p ;<] .^ p ^fi^ p p ;<J . 

to b:) h-i 54^^ bo bo bo 05 I—' bo bo CO h-i oj • 



M I-' t-i h-i ^ ^ ^ 

COtOh- »oQooor9<^o:'<^oi^F^tf^ 
H^ p p to p p po p to --q to p p 

en bo bo Oi bo en ^ bo bo bo cri b:) bo 



)-*ocoQo-^05a5eneni^M^ 

IOtOtOCOp-qi-«051— i;<Irf^ 

hfi^ bi 05 bo o to ^ to bo hf^ M 



coto^-^ocoQo~qa5a5e^^^i^^^ 
to p p to J-» to p ;<1 M p p rf^ 
*en 05 bo *"<i en *^ rfi- to f-i H-i bi M 



I— I 

OCD'X»00000505enrf:^l4i^rf^ 

^-^;o^4i^<x>po5oa50o•<^to 
o CO 'npi- bo en bo ]4i^ tfi^ en o bo 



Iowa. 

(Gilbert.) 
About 50 of 
each sex for 

each age. 



^ Pennsylva- 2 
nia. (Hall.) 

2,434 males q 

(nude.) w 



g 



j^ Sweden 

. Oommis- m 

sion. (Key.) '^ 

— 15,000 boyg, <\ 

3,000 girls. > 

. »-• 

o 
d 



Denmark ^ 

Commis- y 

sion. (Her- ^ 

tel.) 17,134 H 

boys, 11,250 ^ 

girls. 

O 

Moscow, o 
(Erismann.) ^ 
2,453 boys, 3 
1,495 girls, g 

cn 



►^ 



g 



^^ 



M i— * I— » I—' _ 

toi_iH-'O^Qo-qa5enent4i-i4i^rf^cocotolO!:=' 

h-* C» 05 ^{i^ to p to t<^ p H(^ p p to p p p ;<! pi g 

bo 05 to M to *-<l bo b:> 05 ^ tfi. 05 bo bo *en bo bo ' Turin. m 

— ^ (Pagliani.) 

! t— ' I— ' •— ' ^ 1 048 bovR -^ 

ooocooo-^o^aienhfi^j^^cococotoiOHj ^'g^a "(ii°' ^ 

. -q ^^^ o 05 rfs- o;> p p >fs^ 00 t-« CO p p p *^ /^ ^^'^ Sirls. ^ 

'. M *«q bo bi CO *M O bo en bo CO o bo M cp ^ * S 



The School Child 93 

Apparent stupidity or bad mentality in 
school children is often the result of physical 
causes that can and should be removed. Dr. 
Josephine Baker in writing on child health 
quotes the following : 

The New York State Department of Health 
has published the following figures giving the 
estimated defects in the 22,000,000 children 
of the United States: 

At least 200,000 (1%) are mentally defec- 
tive; 

At least 250,000 (over 1%) are affected 
with organic heart disease ; 

At least 1,000,000 (5%) have now or have 
had tuberculosis ; 

At least 1,000,000, (5%) are unable to hear 
properly and because this condition is unrec- 
ognized many of these children have the 
undeserved reputation of being mentally de- 
fective ; 

At least 5,000,000 (25%) have defective 
eyes ; 

At least one out of every 5 of these children 
is undernourished ; 

From 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 (15% to 25%) 
have adenoids, diseased tonsils or other glan- 
dular defects; 

From 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 (10% to 20%) 
have weak foot arches, weak spines or other 
joint defects ; and 



94 Heredity and Child Culture 

From 11,000,000 tol6,000,000 (50% to 75%) 
have defective teeth. 

Most of these defects or diseases are either 
preventable or remediable if discovered early 
enough and if the proper treatment is given. 
When are we going to learn that it is poor 
economy to neglect the child in school and 
then care for him during his adult years be- 
cause of some disability? 

Rural Schools 

A number of years ago, Dr. Thomas D. Wood 
of Teachers College, who has had a wide ex- 
perience along educational lines, gave some in- 
teresting data as to the condition of children 
attending rural schools. He found that more 
than half of the children in the United States 
are attending these country schools. In a care- 
fully prepared table, which includes all parts of 
the country, it is shown that children attending 
these rural schools are less healthy and are 
handicapped by more physical defects than are 
the children of the cities, even including those 
living in the slums. Dr. Wood finds that more 
than twice as many country children as city 
children suffer from mal-nutrition ; the former 
are also more anemic, have more lung trouble, 



The School Child 95 

and include more mental defectives than do the 
latter. In a recent communication, he has 
stated that eye vision standards are very lax 
in rural schools. He declares that country 
children are not being given as careful cultiva- 
tion as crops and live stock. He finds, more- 
over, that 21 per cent, of American children 
have eye defects, and such conditions may cause 
bright children to become dull. 

Defective eyes with imperfect vision may 
cause blurring of sight, headache, dizziness, 
nervous irritation and lack of control. Dr. 
Wood believes that educational experts in this 
country are coming to an increased apprecia- 
tion of the importance of the eye in school 
work. 

A concerted effort to improve the health and 
normal development of school children should 
be made by parents, teachers and physical di- 
rectors. As a start, more time in the school 
curriculum could be given to a careful study of 
the physical condition of the pupils. This 
should be done by physicians accustomed to 
such work and not by mere physical trainers. 



96 Heredity and Child Culture 

The latter are not capable of recognizing ab- 
normal conditions of the heart, lungs or other 
internal organs, yet mnch may depend on such 
knowledge. 

Correct Posture 

One of the fundamental requirements is the 
teaching of correct posture, both standing and 
sitting. This will not only redound to future 
health but add to the personal appearance of 
the individual. A correct poise can be attained 
by a little practice at this time which will last 
all through life. 

The chest should be carried high and arched 
forward, with shoulders held squarely back, 
the neck straight, the chin pointed in, and the 
abdomen also held firmly in. Such a carriage, 
accompanied by deep, full breathing will make 
both for health and grace. The muscles of the 
back and abdomen can thus be strengthened 
and an improved tone imparted to the whole 
system. An indirect but appreciable help can 
also be rendered to some common ailments, of 
which indigestion and constipation are perhaps 



The School Child 97 

the commonest. Boys and girls, soon to become 
young men and women, no matter how plain of 
feature they may be, can become attractive to 
look upon by being taught always to hold them- 
selves erect and in the proper posture. There 
is a great contrast between an attractive 
physical poise and the slouchy position so often 
seen in boys and girls, especially the latter. 
The debutante stoop now affected by many 
young women is distressing to view. 

School Equipment 

The tendency of many school children to 
faulty posture may be due to desks or chairs 
not being of proper size or shape. There may 
thus ensue an undue curving of the back with 
a contraction of the chest. The desk may be 
too high or too low, and the chair is often 
placed too far back from the desk. The seat 
for each child should be of the same height as 
the length of the leg from the knee to the foot, 
so that when sitting, the sole and heel can rest 
easily on the floor. If the seat is too low, the 
body is bowed forward, and if too high, only the 



98 Heredity and Child Culture 

toes touch the floor and a strain is thus put on 
the whole body. When the desk is too high, the 
spinal column, which is very supple in the 
young, is thrown into a condition of lateral 
curvature. When many hours each day are 
spent in unnatural or constricted positions, the 
result cannot fail to be disastrous. The room, 
as well as its appliances, should be conducive 
to health, as such a large portion of every 
child's life is spent in school. Ventilation and 
light are of great importance. Cross venti- 
lation from windows open at the top is usually 
the most satisfactory. 

Each child should be allowed about twenty 
square feet of floor space and at least two hun- 
dred and fifty to three hundred cubic feet of air 
space. Of course, even these allowances will 
be insufficient unless there is a free supply of 
pure air. The windows should be placed as 
high as possible toward the ceiling for good 
light as well as ventilation. A northern light is 
preferable, but from whatever direction it 
comes, it should strike the book of the pupil 
from behind, and, if possible, from the left. 



The School Child 99 

Glaring sunlight is hard on the eyes, and any- 
dazzling light may be avoided by window shades 
made of some kind of gray material. The walls 
of the room are best tinted with a shade of gray, 
and every part should be well lighted. The 
best temperature of the room during winter 
would be about 68° F. 

Physicians and sanitarians should oftener be 
placed on school boards in order to superintend 
health conditions and see that they are right. 

Intellectual effort and hours of confinement 
should be carefully gauged according to the age 
of the child. Some years ago the hours of 
work and sleep required during childhood and 
youth were tabulated by the Royal Sanitary 
Institute of Great Britain as follows: 





Hours 


Hours 


Age of pupils 


of work 


of sleep 




per day 


per night 


rom 5 to 6 years 


1 


131/, 


" 6 to 7 " 


iy2 


13 


" 7 to 8 " 


2 


121/2 


" 8 to 9 " 


2% 


12 


« 9 to 10 " 


a 


11% 


" 10 to 12 « 


3 


11 


" 12 to 14 " 


5 


10% 


" 14 to 16 " 


G 


10 


" 16 to 18 " 


7 


9% 


" 18 to 19 " 


8 


9 



100 Heredity and Child Culture 

It should be remembered that little children 
easily tire on mental exertion, which should not 
be continued too long without interruption. 
The table given will serve as a guide in this re- 
spect for the early years. 

Athletics 

Plenty of out-door exercise is required by the 
growing child and youth in order to lay up a 
store of vigor for future use. While a certain 
amount of indoor gymnasium exercise may be 
valuable, nothing is so beneficial to the boy or 
girl as play in the open air. In certain lines, 
however, there may be danger of carrying exer- 
cise too far, especially during the period of 
adolescence. This is shown in the craze for 
athletics seen in many schools and colleges. 
The outcome of this excessive interest is a few 
over-developed athletes and a majority of stu- 
dents barred out entirely owing to the high 
physical standard required for great competi- 
tive contests. School and college athletics, as 
at present conducted, usually conserve and over- 



The School Child loi 

develop the strong and eliminate the weak, just 
the ones needing most attention. 

It is questionable whether eventually more 
physical harm than good does not come even 
to the athletes themselves. The terrific strain 
put upon the vital organs, especially the heart 
and lungs, involved in these close competitive 
struggles, is sometimes followed by lasting ill 
effects. The excessive development of the mus- 
cular system in a person who is shortly to settle 
down to sedentary pursuits may end in dis- 
astrous results. The blood that should nour- 
ish the vital organs is appropriated in the build- 
ing up of powerful and useless muscles which 
may result in a loss to the general vitality. 
The proper functioning of what may be called 
the great vegetative organs, such as the heart, 
lungs, and the liver are the important pre-requi- 
sites to health and long life, and not enormous 
muscles which are not put to constant use. A 
system of physical training that devotes ex- 
cessive attention to the few and hence cannot 
give a careful study to the necessary all-round 



102 Heredity and Child Culture 

development of the many, is not a proper system 
and does not make for general and widely dif- 
fused health and vigor among the young. 

Adolescence 

During the latter part of school life there is 
ushered in a most interesting period of physical 
and mental activity, — adolescence. This is the 
time of life that intervenes between the begin- 
ning of puberty and the full development of the 
bodily frame. In the male, this may occupy 
the years from 14 to 25, and in the female from 
12 to 21. In the early part of this period there 
is very marked nutritive activity which usually 
lessens during the latter part of the interval. 

Up to the beginning of this time the child 
has lived the life of the race, but now he begins 
to develop his own individual life, and family 
traits come out more strongly. There is a 
rapid growth of the body, especially marked in 
certain internal structures, such as the bones, 
heart and lungs and reproductive organs, with 
increase in blood pressure and in general 
glandular activity. 



The School Child 103 

As growth and development are rapid during 
adolescence, nothing must be allowed to conflict 
with the physical nature at this time. Over- 
strain in school must be guarded against. It is 
especially desirable that girls shall not be 
pushed in their studies at the beginning of 
adolescence. At a time when a new and most 
important life function is being established, the 
nervous energy and blood should not be diverted 
to the brain, as they can be better utilized in 
other parts of the body to the lasting health of 
the child. It must be borne in mind that in- 
fancy and adolescence are the two most rapidly 
formative epochs of life, and quick growth 
predisposes to all kinds of disturbances. 

At this period the peculiarities of sex begin to 
manifest themselves, and boys and girls cease 
to mingle in the indiscriminate way of early 
childhood. Up to twelve years there need not 
be much differentiation of the sexes, but after 
this they must be separately considered. 

The boys are apt to show self-assurance, con- 
ceit, and many other evidences of egoism; the 
girls tend more to idealizing and romantic im- 



104 Heredity and Child Culture 

aglnings. Vague aspirations and a general 
restlessness show the stirring of a new life in 
the child's mind. Ideals begin to take strong 
hold, and, although often crude, prophesy in a 
general way the future bent of the character. 
If any trait is entirely absent at this time, it 
is not apt to be seen later in life. 

There is no period of life when careful and 
sympathetic oversight and training are of such 
importance. The emotional nature now be- 
comes active, with varying phases and mani- 
festations. Eeligious and moral questions may 
assume importance, and it is the age of con- 
version. 

Parents should study and guide these nascent 
emotions so that they will assume a normal and 
healthy form. This is especially important 
when the child tends to be morbid and intro- 
spective. A careful moral training is as im- 
portant as that directed toward the physical and 
mental natures. It is especially important to 
teach the cliild that there is a difference between 
real and imaginary conditions. An effort 
should be made to convert introspection into 



The School Child 105 

activity and at the same time to give some in- 
sight into the realities of life. This will be an 
aid in counteracting selfishness as well as in 
true character building. The imagination be- 
comes very active at this time and care must 
be taken that it is fed with wholesome reading 
and environment. 



CHAPTER IX 

MENTAL. CULTURE 

In the first chapter attention has been called 
to the fact that in the human race evolution is 
now confined to the brain. In the modem 
struggle for existence, men fight with their 
brains and not with their muscles. At birth, 
the brain although fairly large, is undeveloped 
and watery, especially in the higher areas. 

The lower portion of the brain, the eventual 
seat of the subconscious mind, is quickly acted 
on by all sorts of physical and mental stimuli. 
The larger muscular actions, such as move- 
ments of the arms and legs, are exhibited from 
the time of birth, but the smaller muscles with 
their finer action, shown by the co-ordination of 
the fingers and picking up objects, are regulated 
by brain centres that are on a little higher level. 
The structure of the brain and the controlling 

io6 



Mental Culture 107 

forces are gradually developed from below up- 
ward. The upper brain comes gradually into 
play as a result of stimuli and education, and 
the functions of the mind begin to unfold. The 
convoluted surface of the upper brain regulates 
the functions of control and inhibition which are 
the latest products of evolution. These later 
functions are therefore more unstable than the 
lower and more automatic reflexes, and constant 
training and education are accordingly re- 
quired. This higher brain machinery, with the 
deep convolutions arranged in functional 
groups, is what makes education produce results 
and also opens up the widest possibilities. The 
effective use of the brain calls for the best 
training in order to reach the highest develop- 
ment possible for each individual. 

The motor areas of the spinal cord are quite 
highly developed at this time, but the sensory 
portion is not functionally active. This ex- 
plains many of the nervous phenomena of be- 
ginning life. The higher cerebral centres exer- 
cise a feeble inhibition over the lower and more 
active motor centres of the spinal cord. Hence 



io8 Heredity and Child Culture 

what would be a sensory phenomenon in later 
life is a motor one in the young infant. The 
best example of this is seen in the way certain 
illnesses begin. What is a sensory syoaptom 
in the adult, — a chill, — is reflected into a motor 
arc and becomes a convulsion in the infant. In 
its nervous mechanism, the new-bom baby is 
not unlike a fully-developed frog. Pain is not 
active at this time, and while doubtless con- 
scious of unpleasant sensations, the young baby 
does not experience pain in the ordinary sense. 
A baby born without any brain will automati- 
cally cry. By the end of the first year, crying 
may ensue from a real feeling of pain. 

Just after birth, the brain and nerve centres 
act only automatically, or by reflex action. 
Touch and taste are present at birth, but the 
baby is deaf for the first few days and will not 
follow an object with its eyes until the third 
week. The eyes should never be exposed to 
bright lights. By the third month, the baby 
reaches out its arms for objects and may recog- 
nize individuals. The rudiments of memory are 
now developed, and by the fourth or fifth month 



Mental Culture 109 

a few persons may be remembered and recog- 
nized. It is not until the third year, however^ 
that memory develops very rapidly. Efforts 
at speaking usually begin at the end of the 
first year when single words may be uttered. 
At the close of the second year short sentences 
are attempted. 

By the third year there begins to be the ability 
to draw an inference and slight powers of rea- 
soning develop. Here is where education 
should begin to have an effect, always remem- 
bering that while the little child's preceptions 
and emotions are active, there is not much 
volitional power or self-control. The child 
should be taught to use its senses and muscles 
before trying to cultivate memory or imagina- 
tion. Precocious children should not be pushed 
forward; they have usually over-nervous tem- 
peraments. Sometimes bright children by be- 
ing thrown too exclusively into the society of 
adults become precocious. They like to show 
off by exhibiting feats of memory or special 
aptitudes, as in music or dancing. Their ex- 
aggerated perceptions soon disappear and they 



no Heredity and Child Culture 

later often develop into very commonplace per- 
sonalities. This is apt to be true as a rule, 
although many real geniuses have early de- 
veloped precocity. It is a safe rule, however, 
that this tendency should not be encouraged. 
Children who are self-conscious and always 
eager to occupy the centre of the stage need 
repression. 

In the early years, imitation and suggestion 
play leading parts. At the end of infancy and 
during early childhood, the imitative faculties 
come specially into play. The acts of older 
children, of adults, and even of animals, are 
faithfully copied without much idea of their 
significance. Up to the age of seven years, 
much of the training and education of the child 
must come from imitation. He learns by imita- 
ting, and little escapes his watchful eye. This 
throws a great responsibility upon parents and 
teachers, as a defective environment is at once 
reflected by an observing and imitative little 
child. Up to the age of seven, most of the 
playing of children is imitative, shown by the 
delight in dolls and numerous toys representing 



Mental Culture iii 

objects in real life ; but after this, especially in 
boys, games take on a more competitive form, 
involving muscular exercise. 

The little child being so imitative, suggestion 
plays a very important part in training. The 
absence of the critical faculty at this time leaves 
the field open for suggestion to work with great 
force. Hence in training the little child sug- 
gestion must be largely employed, as the imita- 
tive faculty allows it to work to great advan- 
tage. 

It must be remembered that the child exhibits 
the elemental himian forces and instincts. Just 
as the emotions are developed in the race before 
the reason, so it is with children. They can be 
moved by their sympathies long before they can 
be influenced by their intellect. Love is a surer 
guide for them than reason. This is the secret 
of the success of many mothers and of a few 
teachers. The latter, however are too apt to 
try to cultivate the intellect before the emo- 
tions and feelings are considered, and hence 
they often make a failure of both. 



112 Heredity and Child Culture 

Education 

The importance of proper education is 
stressed by the fact that the early impressions 
of the young are never entirely forgotten. Few 
realize the power of ideas, especially when 
early implanted. The effect of ideas when rein- 
forced by strong suggestion has an especially 
quick result upon the plastic mind of the child. 
It took only about two generations of careful 
instruction in State Schools to cause the obses- 
sion of the superman and world dominion to 
take hold of youthful Germany and she sprang 
at the throat of the world, although the older 
generation was naturally friendly and law abid- 
ing. The Jesuit is usually satisfied if he can 
control the early years. 

Attention has been directed to the fact that 
little children cannot concentrate attention very 
long on one subject, so that mental exercises 
should be short with frequent intercurrent rests. 
As a rule, it is better for a child to be with 
others, as work, study and play with school- 
mates is more favorable than being too much 
alone or too exclusively with adults. 



Mental Culture 113 

At the beginning of mental training there is 
more of a tendency to do too much rather than 
too little. One must first be sure that all the 
senses can function properly from the posses- 
sion of sound organs. They must all be 
properly co-ordinated, — touch, taste, smell, 
sight and hearing. As touch and muscle sense 
are earliest developed, the manual part of train- 
ing is important, and education first functions 
along this line. The optic nerve is about eight 
times larger than the auditory nerve and it is 
certainly eight times easier to teach by sight 
than by hearing. But while the eye is the best 
channel for information, care must be taken that 
there is no over-strain. We must always 
remember that what is observed by the eye is 
registered in the brain. Little children are 
often allowed to see too much. All Mnds of 
exciting pictures are presented at the movies^ 
including warfare, scenes in foreign lands and 
strange experiences of all kinds. These are all 
projected on the sensitive brain of the child, 
and too early forcing may mean a later reaction 
in which the child pays up for impressions that 



114 Heredity and Child Culture 

are crowded too soon upon an immature mind. 

In a recent report upon the activities of six 
of Chicago's high schools, it was stated after 
a questionnaire that 87 per cent, of 3000 children 
attended the movies from one to seven times a 
week. The abnormal character of many of the 
pictures, including gunmen, criminals, sexual 
problems and all kinds of exciting scenes, can- 
not but have a disastrous effect upon the young 
and inexperienced mind. Properly censored, 
however, the movie has great educational as 
well as amusement possibilities. 

The child should early be taught to think, — 
even in a rudimentary way, — and to think 
straight. One of the causes of the confusion of 
the time is that so few persons really think. 
They have not been taught this important func- 
tion early enough, — they think loosely and talk 
loosely. As so many absorbed in the routine 
of daily life do not seem to have the time or abil- 
ity to think a subject through, a small number 
are permitted to do the thinking for all, fre- 
quently with disastrous effect. Let us start a 
saner generation by training the opening minds 



Mental Culture 115 

to accustom themselves to thought. The 
thoughtlessness that starts early, too often 
lasts through life. 

While true education must be a life undertak- 
ing, it is in the proper training of the young 
that this question assumes its greatest impor- 
tance. Health and growth must both be con- 
sidered at this time, but, as the period is a short 
one, the tendency is toward over-pressure and 
a hurried undertaking of many things. This 
is a great evil, but much of it might be avoided 
if teachers and parents had a truer conception 
of the real function of education. 

The tendency is to confuse education 
with mere instruction. The object of the 
former is training, that of the latter 
information. The object of education is not 
primarily or solely to impart knowledge ; it is, 
rather, so to train the mind that it will 
have the capacity for selection and development 
and can thus put itself in proper adjustment 
with the larger and higher life of the race. 

The object of instruction, on the other hand, 
is to store the mind with useful and interesting 



ii6 Heredity and Child Culture 

facts. In the case of children there is apt to 
be too much instruction and too little education. 
The pressure that tries to induce extensive 
knowledge is in danger of lessening vitality 
without giving corresponding power, success 
or happiness. Too many studies are usually 
given to children, and this crowding creates a 
serious problem. Not only is depth sacrificed 
to extent of surface in this form of mental 
training, but too little time is left for physical 
exercise and amusement. 

The growth of forced and so-called higher 
education has been relatively more rapid with 
girls than with boys. In the former, the ques- 
tion is complicated by the importance to them- 
selves and the race of proper physical and sex- 
ual development during the period of growth. 
At the time of maturing, the body is more im- 
portant than the mind, yet this is just the time 
that the girl is pushed hardest in her educa- 
tional career if she expects to pursue a course 
in high school or college. The women's col- 
leges are increasing in number and importance 
and have set the educational pace, as in the case 



Mental Culture 117 

with the men's colleges. While no one of in- 
telligence questions the desirability of a good 
education for girls, — whether the kind of train- 
ing they get in their colleges is the best still 
forms an open question. The aim seems to be 
to put the girls through the same educational 
hopper as the boys, irrespective of their physi- 
cal and mental differences. The feminine mind 
differs from the masculine mind, just as the 
feminine body differs from the masculine body 
and both, to a certain extent, require specialized 
training. These differences have deep-seated 
biological causes that must not be overlooked in 
education. The fundamental differences in the 
physio-psychological make-up of the sexes must 
early be considered. It would seem as if the 
higher education of young women might pro- 
perly place emphasis on such subjects as mod- 
ern languages, literature, music, hygiene, — ^both 
personal and domestic, — the selection and 
chemistry of foods, the care and training of 
children, the theory and practice of modern 
charity and cognate subjects, together with a 
careful physical development. In a word, she 



ii8 Heredity and Child Culture 

should be educated with the idea of becoming a 
wife rather than a school teacher. The keen- 
ness of girls for higher education is shown by 
the fact that they are beginning to outnumber 
the men in colleges on a co-educational basis, 
and the girls show a general preponderance in 
numbers over the boys in the high schools of 
New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. In both 
sexes there is needed a simplification of the 
whole educational process. 

One detail of school life that might be cor- 
rected is the needless prolonging of vacations, 
which tends to make the working time too short 
and strenuous. It would be better for health 
to restrict the length of vacations and to work 
under less pressure during the rest of the year. 
Some reorganization of modern education at all 
ages, but especially in the early years, is much 
to be desired, and educators should face this 
problem. It must primarily be borne in mind 
that a true education of the young should be 
based upon knowledge of biological, physio- 
logical and psychological processes and carried 
on in conformity to them. 



Mental Culture 119 

Professor G. Stanley Hall has approached the 
question in the following words, ^ — ^ * We are 
progressively forgetting that for the complete 
apprenticeship to life, yonth needs repose, 
leisure, art, legends, romance, idealization, and 
in a word humanism, if it is to enter the king- 
dom of man well equipped for man's highest 
work in the world. In education our very kin- 
dergartens, which outnumber those of any other 
land, by dogma and hypersophistication tend to 
exterminate the naivete that is the glory of 
childhood. Everywhere the mechanical and 
formal triumph over content and substance, 
the letter over the spirit, the intellect over 
morals, lesson setting and hearing over real 
teaching, technical over the essential, informa- 
tion over education, marks over edification, and 
method over matter. ' ' 

We must always remember that the time for 
education is short. According to some 
psychologists, it is a serious fact that mental 
plasticity largely ceases with youth. The mind 
is apt to be closed to new ideals after the early 

^Adolescence, D. Appleton & Co. 



120 Heredity and Child Culture 

years. WMle this may be an exaggeration in 
some cases, it is nevertheless true in a majority 
of instances, and stresses the great importance 
of a right management of mental training. 
This means that correct methods and ideals 
must form the groundwork for a structure of 
efficiency and high development. 



CHAPTER X 

MOEAL. CULTURE 

The mental and moral natures in their 
development are closely allied. The conduct 
of the child is largely influenced by the tone and 
temper of those about him. If a proper poise 
and self control exists, it is sure to be reflected 
in the children. A cultivated home will do 
more for the child's mental and moral health 
than the formal education of the finest schools. 

In a study of the moral nature of the child, we 
must sharply distinguish the essential from the 
nonl-essential in charactel* building. Thus a 
sort of rowdyism due to an excess of animal 
spirits need not be constantly repressed, but any 
duplicity must be instantly noticed and repri- 
manded. The gravity of the latter, however, 
depends on the age. Professor Barnes has 
truly said that a lie from a three-year old is 
normal ; from a six-year old, unimportant ; from 

121 



122 Heredity and Child Culture 

a nine-year old, serious ; from a twelve-year old, 
tragic. 

If a point is once made, it must be carried out, 
no matter how much of a struggle is required 
and it is therefore wise to make an issue as 
rarely as possible, and then only for really 
essential points. The character of many a child 
is injured by querulous rebukes, constantly 
administered, until he comes to be considered as 
a sort of outlaw, all perhaps for small offences 
that involve no essential moral question. A 
little judicial blindness and an occasional kindly 
talk, combined with efforts to gain the confidence 
and interest of the child, and guide his exuber- 
ant energy in proper directions will do much to 
conserve his moral and social self-respect. 
There is sometimes danger of too much as well 
as too little discipline. We must be careful 
never to break the spirit of the child. There 
are only a few important dogmas that always 
must be authoritatively enforced. 

There exists in many children a touch of bar- 
barism that is merely an evidence of under- 
development. Lombroso goes so far as to trace 



Moral Culture 123 

certain analogies between the child and the 
criminal. He considers that the germs of crim- 
inality are met with, not by exception, but 
normally in the early years of human life. As 
in the embryo, there occur naturally certain 
forms that will be monstrosities in the adult so 
the child represents a man of undeveloped moral 
strength. Lombroso places passion and venge- 
fulness, vanity and cruelty in this comparison 
between the child and the criminal. The great 
criminologist certainly goes too far in exagger- 
ating this analogy, but it may afford food for 
serious thought and observation to those who 
study and bring up children. Apparent cruelty, 
shown in a callousness to suffering, is often seen 
in children, but is due more to ignorance and 
lack of experience as to the meaning of pain 
than to defective moral sensibility. 

The phenomenon of sex should be explained 
to children as soon as they are old enough to 
understand. By treating this subject in a mat- 
ter-of-fact way, and stripping it of the unwhole- 
some mystery so often surrounding the facts, 
the child can readily comprehend all that is 



124 Heredity and Child Culture 

necessary to know. Parents are the proper 
ones to give this knowledge and they can pre- 
pare themselves to impart it without much 
trouble. They may start with explaining the 
reproduction of new life in the vegetable world 
and thence lead up to animals and man. It 
can take its place in connection with general 
nature-study which is always profitable and 
desirable for the child. All manifestations of 
life on the physical side must be presented in a 
normal manner, so that nothing unclean may be 
suggested. The handling of the sex organs, 
except for cleanliness, can be brought in here in 
a natural manner and linked up with general 
hygiene. In this way one can avoid a sugges- 
tion that might prove undesirable. Children 
often know more on these subjects than their 
parents think, although in a distorted, unwhole- 
some form. Their views must be clarified, and, 
at the same time, they can be taught the bad 
results of evil habits. Most children wish to be 
strong and excel in sports, and an appeal can be 
made from this angle to avoid whatever will 
lessen health and vigor. 



Moral Culture 125 

Much of our physical, mental, and even moral 
health depends on the proper functioning of the 
endocrine glands, — sometimes kaown as the 
glands of internal secretion. Many of the 
chemical reactions so necessary to bodily health 
are produced or controlled by these glands. 
The thyroids, adrenals, pituitary bodies and 
other similar glands produce hormones (mes- 
sengers) that are carried by the bloodstream 
to all parts of the body and produce marked 
physical and mental effects. Some biologists 
believe that the endocrines have a large influence 
upon the heredity and development of man. It 
is known that certain forms of feeble-minded- 
ness are produced by a lack of some internal 
secretion, and in one variety, — ^the Cretin, — ^by 
giving thyroid by mouth, the body and mind are 
both re-invigorated. Some even believe that 
certain criminals are really gland-victims. On 
the other hand, strong emotion will quickly 
affect these secretions. Sudden fear will have 
a marked effect upon the thyroid and adrenal 
glands, and courage, as shown in the excitement 
of battle, calls forth the secretion of the 



126 Heredity and Child Culture 

adrenals. There is a constant chemical read- 
justment going on in the body by the interaction 
of these various glands; not only mental con- 
ditions, but the very architecture of the 
body is largely influenced by them. Thus both 
giants and dwarfs are largely developed by the 
irregular action of the pituitary gland. Like 
other phenomena of life, the harmonious action 
of these mysterious and powerful glands, are 
best set in motion by healthy growth at the be- 
ginning. The early development of self-control 
will have beneficial effects all through life on 
these important glands. 

With reference to actual delinquency, child- 
hood traits must be early watched and correc- 
tive measures at once applied to all moral 
lapses. It is believed that criminals are always 
made before the age of twenty-one. They must 
therefore be caught and reformed early if at all. 
Many years ago, Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, the anthro- 
pologist, at my request made a careful exami- 
nation of 1000 inmates of the New York Juve- 
nile Asylum. These children were committed 
to the asylum by the courts for petty crimes or 



Moral Culture 127 

gross neglect on the part of the parents. In his 
conclusions, he stated that when the children 
were admitted to the institution, they were al- 
most invariably in some way, both morally and 
physically, inferior to healthy children from 
good social classes at large. A closer observa- 
tion, however, revealed the fact that the inferi- 
orities of the children who became inmates of 
the Juvenile Asylum were in the majority of 
cases only the results of neglect, or of improper 
nutrition, or of both these causes combined. 
Many of the children were more or less neglec- 
ted, or spoiled, or less developed or strong than 
they should be ; but a really inferior child, that 
is, an inherently vicious, or an imbecile child, 
or a child who could not be much improved by 
better food and better hygienic surroundings, 
was a very rare exception. 

This constitutes a striking demonstration of 
the ejffect of early neglect and the possibilities 
of regeneration. 

The best way to eliminate evil is to stress the 
good in every individual. By filling life with 
activities that enlist the interest of the child 



128 Heredity and Child Culture 

there will be neither time nor opportunity for 
the lower traits to develop. Let their energies 
be directed toward a constructive and creative 
outlet. 

Some children have to be taught to play, as 
they seem lacking in initiative in this direction ; 
organized play may have a favorable mental 
and moral effect. Let us start right in this 
direction as the habit of happiness may then 
continue into after life. It may well be that 
vigorous play in the growing years can have an 
influence on the prolongation of life and the pre- 
vention of degenerative diseases; also to raise 
the question as to whether our unsatisfactory 
organization of leisure life, through which 
people get no real self-expression, may not have 
something to do with the wide extent of func- 
tional nervous disorders. 

Children of the well-to-do should early be 
taught to sympathize with misfortune and 
extend aid where possible. Even a small 
knowledge of the hard life conditions that sur- 
round so many people will tend to eliminate 
the innate selfishness that is so common among 



Moral Culture 129 

our better-favored youth. A cultivation of the 
moral nature should be started early and con- 
tinued all through the developing period. The 
child can soon recognize the difference between 
right and wrong and this vital distinction must 
be both taught and enforced. 

Finally, a careful religious training, when 
freed from obsolete dogmas, will be most help- 
ful in developing the best character attainable. 
A simple, rational faith in the moral order of 
the world and in a Supreme Being who is 
working by the laws of nature and life for the 
ultimate good of the race can early be incul- 
cated. This will start a sense of responsibility 
that will develop with later years. 

It is unfortunate that the spiritual life of 
children should be so often neglected by parents 
and teachers. As a result, too often we are 
raising a lot of lusty young pagans who, as they 
grow up, like Gallio, will **care for none of these 
things.'' No one quicker than the child reacts 
to the widespread materiaKsm of the day. It 
is a strange fact that while materialism is grow- 
ing stronger as a social force, it is losing ground 



130 Heredity and Child Culture 

as an interpretation of life to the thinking 
classes. Here is a chance for the coming gener- 
ation to be given a truer orientation of life than 
commonly exists at present. It is wise to start 
early in teaching the eternal verities and the 
simpler the faith, the easier it will be to 
inculcate. 

The so-called ages of faith have passed, never 
to return. We need not unduly grieve over this 
since they were likewise ages of ignorance and 
superstition. Yet never has the necessity of 
strong and simple belief been greater than at 
present. Careful observers of life cannot 
help noticing that as faith lessens, actual living 
is apt to weaken and degenerate. This rule is 
true in spite of the few apparent exceptions 
where a heredity of strong character steadies a 
life that has lost belief. Eeligion best fur- 
nishes what psychologists might call the sustain- 
ing motive to right actions and a correct life. 
Only a few fundamental religious truths are 
really necessary to nourish the higher life. 
Let them be carefully implanted in the opening 
mind rather than trying to teach doctrines that 



Moral Culture 131 

were evidently developed largely out of social 
conditions existing when they were formulated. 
The danger of unreal beliefs being early taught 
is that, with the age of intellectual awakening, 
the true as well as the false in religion may be 
thrown aside. 

The little child will be the ultimate judge of 
the world ; before his problems and questionings 
most plans of philosophy, codes of ethics and 
systems of theology somehow prove stumbling, 
inadequate and unworkable. 

The age needs a great voice that will find a 
way between the gnostic and the agnostic in 
developing the religious and spiritual life of the 
future. Perhaps some child of the present day 
will later furnish this voice. 



CHIAJPTER XI 

NERVE CULTUEE 

We seem to have struck an era of '* nerves." 
Large numbers of men and women show a nerv- 
ous instability that often has its roots in de- 
fective training and example during the open- 
ing years. Early education and control are 
necessary to check this growing tendency. 

Probably more trouble is produced in the 
world by neurotics than by criminals. The for- 
mer do not react in a normal and healthy man- 
ner to the stimuli of their environment and are 
easily maladjusted in all their relationships. 
These persons drift from neurologist to quack, 
from astrologer to osteopath, and usually end 
in one of the happiness cults whose followers 
spend their time in joyously dodging obligations 
and realities. Numerous imaginary diseases 
are constantly encountered and cured by imagi- 
nary remedies. Not a few obscure illnesses 

132 



Nerve Culture 133 

are really due to what the psychologists call a 
defense reaction in men and women, especially 
the latter, who fail to adjust themselves to their 
surroundings. They have an inner feeling of 
inadequacy and unconsciously fall back on some 
functional and obscure nervous trouble as a way 
of escape. The only thing that will really and 
permanently help these neurotics, — re-educa- 
tion, — is overlooked. Perhaps it is too hard 
and honest for trial. 

It is much more hopeful to try to check this 
tendency at the beginning by proper educa- 
tion. The earliest years are the impressionable 
ones ; intellectual and emotional instability can 
get a good start at this time. While it is gener- 
ally thought that heredity is responsible for ner- 
vous instability, I believe the condition is 
oftener due to faulty environment during the 
early years. According to Freud, the neurotic 
is manufactured before the age of six years. 

Modem psychology has explained, to a cer- 
tain extent, how these phenomena arise. What 
are known as complexes may consist of certain 
groups of co-ordinated motions called into play 



134 Heredity and Child Culture 

by various actions, as in violin playing; again, 
they may comprise groups of ideas or emo* 
tions. By constant repetition, these motor 
or psychic groupings become fixed into habit. 
It is in the subconscious mind that complexes 
oftenest remain, as it were, concealed until 
brought into play. A complex may not exist in 
the conscious mind at all ; it may of tener be in 
the subconscious mind, only waiting for certain 
experiences or influences to bring it forth. 
These connected ideas are often joined with 
emotional conditions that have a marked effect 
on action or conduct. The whole character 
may often be influenced by combinations of com- 
plexes. 

A large number of subconscious ideas and 
complexes are acquired during the first years 
of life. They may form the roots of obscure 
ailments that will 'be carried on into later 
years. Thus neurotics are made by conditions 
that usually have their origin in childhood, 
forming compulsions and inhibitions that trail 
along through after life. It is not necessary to 
believe with the Freudians that there is always 



Nerve Culture 135 

a sexual genesis of disturbing complexes, al- 
though this element is doubtless frequently 
present. Strong impressions or emotions of 
jany kind may have a lasting effect. Suppres- 
sions and repressions are too frequently em- 
ployed and may result in an imbalance of char- 
acter. Undesirable trends in infancy and child- 
hood may land an adult in an unenviable mental 
condition. Dr. Spaulding states that too great 
attention cannot be given to such factors, par- 
ticularly in the first five years of life, since it 
is being recognized more and more that it is in 
the earliest years that the great tragedies occur 
that tend to warp seriously the individual 
expression of energy of later years. 

Grief, fear, worry, anger, apprehension and 
emotional shocks may become fixed and form 
the early beginnings of what will eventually 
lead to individual and social maladjustments. 
We must be especially careful not to implant 
fear in the developing mind of the young. 
The nervous child is especially liable to become 
maladjusted in the emotional field. Although 
many disturbing experiences in the young child's 



136 Heredity and Child Culture 

mental and moral life may be long forgotten, 
their effects are held in the subconscious mind, 
and it may be years before a submerged emo- 
tion finds outlet in an indirect or surprising 
manifestation. An emotion or feeling sup- 
pressed in one way may find '* sublimation,'' ac- 
cording to the psychologists, in an entirely dif- 
ferent direction. 

All this emphasizes the importance of early 
training. It is much better and easier to try- 
to form good habits than reform bad ones. 

Fathers and mothers with unstable character 
and flighty moods will find their children devel- 
oping the same characteristics from imitation. 
Fussy, neurotic parents must realize their re- 
sponsibility and try to control their nervous in- 
stability for the sake of their children if not for 
themselves. Children must be guarded, as far 
as possible, from severe emotional shocks. 
Their lives must be made as happy as circum- 
stances will permit. The play instinct should 
always be developed. It must be remembered 
that apparent egoism or intense shyness may 
be only manifestations of defense reactions. 



Nerve Culture 137 

The cHld must be encouraged in developing Ms 
natural qualities, and efforts should be made 
to bring out the best in him. Perhaps the 
mother can most satisfactorily control the emo- 
tions and direct the will, and the father see that 
self-reliance is cultivated. A normal, happy 
family life will best fit the child to make proper 
adjustments to the varying environment of later 
years. Finally, the child cannot too early be 
taught to face reality and learn to appreciate the 
fact that life is a process of adjustment. 



CHAPTER Xn 

TECB IMPORTANCE OF PROPER NUTRITION" 

The great importance of good nutrition dur- 
ing the developmental years cannot be over- 
estimated. At this time the structure of the 
body, including the most vital tissues, is be- 
ing built up and the organism thus formed 
must serve for the whole of life. If proper 
growth does not take place during the period 
of natural development, no later compensation 
is possible. 

At this time, a double function of nutrition 
is required, first, that of growth, and second 
that of maintenance or keeping the body in 
operation. By the latter is meant a supply of 
energy and heat, and as the child by its growth 
and activity burns up more fuel than the adult, 
it is doubly important to supply a sufficiency 
of proper food to serve as fuel. Hence, at 

138 



Proper Nutrition 139 

this time a carefully balanced diet is very es- 
sential. 

The great variety of articles in use as food 
all contain only a few essential principles, 
— ^proteins, mineral matter, fats, carbohydrates 
and water, the latter constituting a large pro- 
portion of all foods. These different substances 
when taken into the body have various functions 
to perform. The proteins and mineral matter 
are used in the growth and repair of the body ; 
the fats supply heat and energy and are de- 
posited in the tissues for form and contour; 
the carbohydrates also supply heat and energy, 
and may be changed into fat in the system ; the 
water gives bulk and solvent properties to the 
various tissues. 

These food principles are found in a variety 
of forms and combinations. Protein exists as 
lean meat, the curd of milk, fish, poultry, eggs, 
cheese, beans, barley, oatmeal and the gluten 
of flour. The mineral matter consists largely 
of earthy salts, such as phosphate of lime and 
compounds of magnesium, sodium, potassium 
and iron. These substances are usually taken 



140 Heredity and Child Culture 

into the body in combination with the proteins. 
The fats are seen incorporated with meats, or 
as lard, butter, the cream of milk and vegetable 
oils. Carbohydrates are the various starches 
and sugars that are combined in cereals, pota- 
toes, flour and vegetables. 

It has recently been found that growth takes 
place not only from the chemical ingredients of 
foods but from mysterious substances known as 
vitamines. If these substances are absent from 
foods, growth and nutrition will fail and cer- 
tain deficiency diseases, such as rickets or 
scurvy will result. Although these living enti- 
ties may be present only in most minute traces, 
they are necessary factors in nutrition if health 
is to be preserved. Thus no diet should be con- 
tinued that does not contain one or more of the 
foods producing vitamines. The several varie- 
ties and the foods containing them have been 
divided into three classes, — (A.) Vitamines 
soluble in fat, included in butter, eggs, cod 
liver oil, fat fish, lean meat, lettuce, spinach, 
fresh carrots, cabbage, and the germ of cereals ; 
(B.) Vitamines soluble in water, included in 



Proper Nutrition 141 

milk, eggs, lean meat, liver and various other 
glands, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, tur- 
nips, nuts, wheat bran, the germ of cereals, 
apples, oranges, lemons, grapes, tomatoes, 
yeast; (C.) Vitamines that prevent scurvy, also 
soluble in water, included in lean meat, liver, 
beef juice, cows' milk, cabbage, tomatoes, tur- 
nips, cresses, lettuce, apples, oranges, fresh 
lime juice, lemon juice, raspberries. Vitamine 
(A) is not much affected by heat, vitamine (B) 
should not be subjected to heat above the boil- 
ing point of water, and vitamine (C) is de- 
stroyed by heat and alkalies. For this reason, 
when all the milk given to infants and little 
children is preserved by heat, some fruit juice 
should be added to the dietary. It is always 
desirable to preserve the water in which vege- 
tables are cooked so that the vitamines may be 
retained. 

The vitamine problem is naturally more im- 
portant during the growing period than later in 
life, as proper development cannot take place 
in their absence. A mixed diet containing a 
variety of the above-mentioned foods will al- 



142 Heredity and Child Culture 

ways insure a sufficient supply, and it is hence 
not necessary to rely on any of the numerous 
proprietary preparations now flooding the mar- 
ket. 

Milk is the universal food of all young mam- 
mals. It is the only food in nature that is com- 
plete in itself ; it contains all the necessary ele- 
ments for growth as well as those required for 
heat and energy production in a most digestible 
and absorbable form. While every species of 
mammalian young is perfectly nourished by the 
milk of its own mother, the food elements are 
present in varying proportions in different 
species, this depending largely on the rapidity 
of growth of the offspring; hence milks of 
one species require some alteration before be- 
ing given to the young of another species. 

In addition to nutrition, milk has properties 
which no other food possesses. It is fluid when 
secreted but when taken into the body it is 
changed from a liquid into a semi-solid sub- 
stance under the action of the secretions of 
the stomach. This seems to have the function 
of training the growing stomach to utilize solid 



Proper Nutrition 143 

food when it is more fully developed. This is 
due to a process of coagulation that takes place 
in one of the ingredients — the protein — which 
always alters the form of the milk when taken 
into the stomach. While a certain amount of 
protein is present in the milks of all animals 
and is necessar^^ for tissue building and growth, 
this protein must not only be coagulable but 
must curd in a certain specific way in each 
species of animal for the proper evolution of 
different digestive tracts. As nutrition is the 
basis of all physical life, we see how important 
a function milk performs at the very beginiring- 
of existence in developing and preparing the 
digestive tract for the digestion and assimila- 
tion of food that must nourish it in later life. 
Some years ago I brought out this fact that 
milk through its protein has a developmental 
as well as a nutritive function to perform.^ 
The higher mortality following bottle feeding 
is not the only reason in favor of maternal nurs- 
ing. In feeding the infant with milk from an- 
other species — the cow — ^we are putting a hard 

^The Scientific Monthly j January, 1916. 



144 Heredity and Child Culture 

curdling milk into a stomach intended and 
adapted for soft, flocculent curds. This is the 
cause of much indigestion and such substitu- 
tion fails to carry out one of the functions that 
milk was intended to perform in the scheme of 
evolution, — namely, in each species to specially 
develop certain parts of the gastro-intestinal 
tract that must later on perform most of the 
work of digestion. 

Every effort should be made to have the 
mother nurse her infant, especially during the 
first months. If this were done, there would 
not only be a distinct lowering of infant mor- 
tality but a more vigorous life would be insured. 
It is only necessary to note here that while 
the general infant mortality has been largely 
reduced, that occurring during the first month 
of life has not yet been lowered. Since milk is 
the only food that supplies all the ingredients 
required in the building up of bones, muscles 
and other tissues, and in the proportions and 
conditions required by each species, the natural 
milk is best supplied to the baby by its own 



Proper Nutrition 145 

mother. The important mineral ingredients, 
especially lime, so necessary in bone building, 
are also most efficiently supplied by mother's 
milk. 

The conservation of the milk of a healthy 
mother is of such great importance for the in- 
fant that every effort should be made to utilize 
it. We must first see that the breast is thor- 
oughly emptied at each nursing, as this stimu- 
lates the secretion. If only a little milk is se- 
creted, give what is there at each feeding and 
then at once supplement by the bottle. The 
regular use of the breast soon stimulates to 
better action. We must also furnish the mother 
with plenty of food that will supply materials 
best suited for making milk and which are rich 
in vitamines. The best source of the materials 
needed for making milk in the cow is the her- 
baceous plants. When the spring grass ap- 
pears, cows produce the best milk and in the 
greatest quantities. These herbaceous plants 
are the original source of vitamines. They are 
also found in the germs or embryos of the grass 



146 Heredity and Child Culture 

seeds. The nursing mother should drink milk, 
also broths made from green leaves, such as 
spinach, lettuce, celery tops, onion or beet tops. 
A porridge or gruel made from cereals contain- 
ing the germs will also be found of much value. 
Meat is desirable and should usually be taken 
twice daily. Sufficient rest should also be 
enjoined; a restless, disturbed night will have 
a marked effect upon the secretion of mothers' 
milk. The importance of all this will be realized 
from the fact that over 80 per cent, of the babies 
dying before the completion of the first year 
are bottle-fed. 

When cows' milk has to be entirely substi- 
tuted, the greatest care in its collection and dis- 
tribution must be exercised. An extra quality 
of cow's milk known as ** certified milk'^ is 
now procurable in many communities and is 
preferable for babies. The exact formula 
and the method of diluting and preparing 
cow's milk for babies at different ages should 
be regulated by a skilful physician who can 
manage each case according to individual 
needs. 



Proper Nutrition 147 

After the nursing period is over, the hours 
and methods of feeding are very important for 
good nutrition, as well as the selection of proper 
food. The value of eating slowly must early 
be stressed, as most children and many adults 
get in the habit of bolting their food. A few 
minutes rest before and after eating will do 
much to build up a vigorous digestion. Dur- 
ing the school recess, lunch is often hastily 
bolted in order to have more time for engaging 
in play. Children may sometimes be seen in 
games involving violent exercise, with a sand- 
wich in one hand, from which hasty bites are 
taken during a lull in the game. The school 
day should be so arranged that a hot, nourish- 
ing dinner may be served during the noon hour. 
The heavy meal of the day should be given at 
this time to little children. Much of the mal- 
nutrition among school children is caused by 
faulty arrangement of meals due to prolonged 
or inconvenient school hours. Children should 
also early be taught to eat plain, wholesome 
food. Habits and tastes formed in the first 
years have much to do with food customs last- 



148 Heredity and Child Culture 

ing all through life, and children should thus 
be taught to live on simple, nutritious and, if 
necessary, inexpensive foods. This should 
form part of their education. The palate must 
be educated as well as the brain. 

The food given Kttle children is often too soft. 
Hard, gritty substances are needed to exercise 
the teeth and develop the jaws. Too many 
sweets and sugary substances also affect the 
mouth as well as the digestive tract. These 
conditions favor early decay of the teeth, which 
does not occur among the lower animals. Ac- 
cording to modern studies, the mouth assumes 
great importance in the economy of digestion 
and assimilation. It is likewise the source of 
some focal infections that may affect distant 
parts of the body. 

After considering the time and manner of eat- 
ing, all that remains is to be sure that a properly 
balanced diet containing all the necessary in- 
gredients for growth and development is given 
the child. The following is a convenient classi- 
fication found in Farmers' Bulletin, No. 808 of 
the U. S. Government. 



Proper Nutrition 149 

FOODS DEPENDED ON FOB MINERAL MATTERS', VEGETABLE ACIDS, 
AND BODY-BEGULATINQ SUBSTANCES 

Fruits : Vegetables : 

Apples, pears, etc. Salads — lettuce, celery, 

Bananas. etc. 

Berries. Potherbs or "greens." 

Melons. Potatoes and root 

Oranges, lemons, etc. vegetables, 

Green peas, beans, etc. 

Tomatoes, squash, etc. 

FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR PROTEIN 

Milk, skim milk, cheese, Fish. 

etc. Dried peas, beans, cow- 
Eggs, peas, etc. 

Meat. Nuts. 
Poultry. 

FOODS DEPENDED ON FOB STABCH 

Cereal grains, meals, Macaroni and other 

flours, etc. pastes. 

Cereal breakfast foods. Cakes, cookies,, starchy 

Bread. puddings, etc. 

Crackers. Potatoes and other 

starchy vegetables. 

FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR SUGAR 

Sugar. Candies. 

Molasses. Fruits preserved in su- 

Syrups. • gar, jellies, and 

Honey. dried fruits. 

Sweet cakes and desserts. 

FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR FAT 

Butter and cream. Salt pork and bacon. 

Lard, suet, and other Table and salad oils, 

cooking fats. 

A child should receive one food at least from 
the following groups every day : 

1. Milk and dishes made chiefly of milk (most 
important of the group as regards chil- 
dren's diet) ; meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and 
meat substitutes. 



150 Heredity and Child Culture 

2. Bread and other cereal foods. Starchy 
vegetables, as potatoes. 

3. Butter and other wholesome fats. 

4. Green vegetables and fruits. 

5. Simple sweets. 

Calories as Measures of Food Values 

The human body, like the automobile, is run 
as an internal combustion engine. Energy may 
be conveniently measured in terms of heat, 
the calorie or heat unit, being used for this pur- 
pose. A calorie is the quantity of heat re- 
quired to raise the temperature of one liter of 
water one degree centigrade, oi: very nearly the 
amount of heat required to raise the tempera- 
ture of one pound of water from 0° to 4° F. 
While all nutrients are possible sources of 
energy, the body should depend upon fats and 
carbohydrates as energy-producing foods, 
rather than upon protein, which has tissue build- 
ing functions not possessed by the other nutri- 
ents. Moreover, fats are more efficient sources 
of energy than either protein or carbohydrates. 



Proper Nutrition 151 

It has been estimated that for every 100 calories, 
about 10 per cent, should be produced from pro- 
teins, 30 per cent, from fats, and 60 per cent, 
from carbohydrates. While foods yielding 
about 2500 calories a day are required by aver- 
age adults in sedentary pursuits, growing chil- 
dren may require 3000 to 4000 calories, or even 
more, during adolescence. 

It is not wise, however, to put too much em- 
phasis on calories in measuring nutritional 
needs. Heat measurement alone is not always 
a safe guide for the calculation of food values. 
This is especially true at the beginning of life 
when growth is the all important factor. The 
foods that huild rather than those that readily 
undergo oxidation must be properly gauged if 
we are to have healthy development. This 
means that the great protein suppliers, — meat, 
eggs, fish, milk and cereals, — ^must have an im- 
portant place in the dietary. An ounce of lean 
meat, furnishing 34 calories, contains 6. 4 grams 
of protein; an ounce of hominy, furnishing 103 
calories, contains only 2. 3 grams of protein. 



152 Heredity and Child Culture 

Therefore, the meat, although weak in calories, 
contains three times the tissue building material 
found in the hominy. 

Trial, experience and results, rather than 
mere theory, must prove the final test of the 
utility of any plan of nutrition. 

Under-Nourished Children 

Attention has recently been directed to the 
large number of growing children who are suf- 
fering from various grades of mal-nutrition. 
This condition is not confined to any one class 
since it is seen as often among the well-to-do 
as among the poor. We are largely indebted to 
Dr. William E. P. Emerson of Boston for an 
investigation of this subject. These children 
are often anemic, languid, easily fatigued, 
highly nervous or irritable, and do not seem 
to fit in well with their environment. The con- 
dition is often caused by faulty habits of eating 
as well as by badly regulated diets. The im- 
mediate effect is not only disastrous, but mal- 
nutrition at this time is the cause of many ills 
in later life. According to tests made in vari- 



Proper Nutrition 



153 



ous localities, Dr. Emerson believes that from 
20 to 40 per cent, of children at the pre-school 
and school age in this country show physical 
and mental signs of mal-nutrition. One of the 
surest methods of recognizing this condition 
consists in observing the relation between 
weight and height, as children who are habitu- 
ally underweight for their height may usually 
be considered as under-nourished. In consider- 
ing what range of variation may be compatible 
with health, 10 per cent, of under weight is taken 
as a working hypothesis by Dr. Emerson, as 
shown in the following table, — 



Height 


Average 


10% 


Average 


10% 


Inches 


Weight for 


Under 


Weight for 


Under 




Height 


Weight 


Height 


Weight 




Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 




BOYS 




GIKJLS 




21 


8.2 


7.4 


7.9 


7.1 


22 


9.7 


8.7 


9.4 


8.5 


23 


11.1 


10.0 


11.0 


9.9 


24 


12.5 


11.3 


12.5 


11.3 


25 


13.9 


12.5 


14.0 


12.6 


26 


15.3 


13.8 


15.5 


14.0 


27 


16.9 


15.2 


17.2 


15.5 


28 


18.5 


16.7 


18.8 


16.9 


29 


20.2 


18.2 


20.5 


18.5 


30 


21.7 


19.6 


22.0 


19.8 


31 


23.2 


20.9 


23.4 


21.1 


32 


24.5 


22.1 


24.8 


22.3 


33 


25 9 


23.3 


26.0 


23.4 



154 Heredity and Child Culture 



r 


Average 
Weight for 




Height 




Pounds 


34 


27.3 


35 


28.7 


36 


30.0 


37 


31.6 


38 


33.2 


39 


36.3 


40 


38.1 


41 


39.8 


42 


41.7 


43 


43.5 


44 


45.4 


45 


47.1 


46 


49.5 


47 


51.4 


48 


53.0 


49 


55.4 


60 


59.6 


61 


62.5 


62 


65.8 


63 


68.9 


64 


72.0 


55 


75.4 


56 


79.2 


57 


82.8 


58 


87.0 


59 


91.1 


60 


95.2 


61 


99.3 


62 


103.8 


63 


108.0 


64 


114.7 


65 


121.8 


66 


127.8 


67 


132.6 


68 


138.9 



10% 


Average 


10% 


Under 


Weight for 


Under 


Weight 


Height 


Weight 


Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


24.6 


27.3 


24.6 


25.8 


28.6 


25.7 


27.0 


30.0 


27.0 


28.4 


31.5 


28.4 


29.9 


32.7 


29.4 


32.7 


35.7 


32.1 


34.3 


37.4 


33.7 


35.8 


39.2 


35.3 


37.5 


41.2 


37.1 


39.2 


43.1 


38.8 


40.9 


44.8 


40.3 


42.4 


46.3 


41.7 


44.6 


48.5 


43.7 


46.3 


50.9 


45.8 


47.7 


53.3 


48.0 


49.9 


55.8 


50.2 


53.6 


58.3 


52.5 


56.3 


61.1 


55.0 


59.2 


63.8 


57.4 


62.0 


66.8 


60.1 


64.8 


70.3 


63.3 


67.9 


74.5 


67.1 


71.3 


78.4 


70.6 


74.5 


82.5 


74.3 


78.3 


86.6 


77.9 


82.0 


91.1 


82.0 


85.7 


96.7 


87.0 


89.4 


102.5 


92.2 


93.4 


110.4 


99.4 


97.2 


118.0 


106.2 


103.2 


123.0 


110.7 


109.6 


130.0 


117.0 


115.0 


137.0 


123.3 


119.3 


143.0 


128.7 


125.0 


146.9 


132.2 



A child whose weight does not agree with its 
height and who is 10 per cent, under weight is 



Proper Nutrition 155 

not well nourished. These figures, however, 
are only averages, and do not apply to excep- 
tional cases. Still they will prove valuable in 
leading to a careful study of all the life condi- 
tions of a child showing such irregularity. It 
is especially when growth is very active that 
under feeding or wrong feeding is most disas- 
trous. Adolescence is the time that especially 
requires a most liberal diet. Quick growth and 
marked muscular and glandular activity call 
for abundant food. Sometimes children who 
are properly fed but who are over-active in 
study or play become under-nourished. Dr. 
Emerson stresses the importance of rest periods 
for under- weight children in addition to regula- 
tion of diet. This was well exemplified in a 
class of under-nourished children under my ob- 
servation in one of the public schools of New 
York. An abundant dinner was furnished these 
children, of which all partook. A number, how- 
ever, failed to gain. When a rest period of an 
hour after dinner was added to the regime, these 
same children gained also. General hygienic 
oversight is therefore required in dealing with 



156 Heredity and Child Culture 

such children. The first necessity is to stop 
habits that interfere with healthy appetite and 
digestion. The eating of candy and sweets, 
the drinking of tea and coffee, and other dietetic 
errors must first be corrected before improve- 
ment can be expected. 



CHAPTER Xin 



THE FAMILY 



It is a truism to remark that the welfare of 
the child is closely bound up with that of the 
family. Any influence that weakens the status 
of the family and the home is at once disas- 
trously reflected upon the developing child. 
The necessity for strengthening and conserving 
family relations, as far as possible, in all indi- 
vidual and social endeavors is not only shown 
in beneficial practical results but has a deep 
philosophic reason as well. The family stands 
at the foundation of the complete fabric of civ- 
ilization. 

John Fiske elaborates this thought in his Out- 
lines of Cosmic Philosophy, and it may be of 
interest to quote some of his words, — **The 
feature by which the most rudimentary human 
family group is distinguished from any colloca- 
tion of kindred individuals among gregarious 
mammals is the permanent character of the 
relationships between its constituent members. 

157 



158 Heredity and Child Culture 

Enduring from birth until death, these relation- 
ships acquire a traditionary value which passes 
on from generation to generation, and thus there 
arise reciprocal necessities of behavior between 
parents and children, husbands and wives, 
brothers and sisters, in which reciprocal neces- 
sities of behavior we have discerned the requi- 
site conditions for the genesis of those ego- 
altruistic impulses which, when further modi- 
fied by the expansion of sympathetic feelings, 
give birth to moral sentiments. ***** We 
bridge the gulf which seems, on a superficial 
view, forever to divide the human from the 
brute world. And not least, in the grand result, 
is the profound meaning which is given to the 
phenomena of helpless babyhood. From of old 
we have heard the monition, * Except ye be as 
babes, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. ' 
The latest science now shows us, — though in a 
very different sense of the word,~that, unless 
we had been as babes, the ethical phenomena 
which gives all its significance to the phrase 
* kingdom of heaven' would have been non-exis- 
tent for us. Without the circumstances of in- 



The Family 159 

fancy we might have become formidable among 
animals through sheer force of sharp-witted- 
ness. But, except for these circumstances, we 
should never have comprehended the meaning 
of such phrases as * self-sacrifice, ' or * devotion.' 
The phenomena of social life would have been 
omitted from the history of the world, and with 
them the phenomena of ethics and religion/* 
While the bringing up and training of the 
child call for watchful care and constant labor, 
if it be conscientiously and hopefully under- 
taken, there are the greatest rewards and com- 
pensations for such efforts. It is only neces- 
sary to note what the child does for parents 
and the race to see how this must be so. In the 
scheme of higher evolution the child stands pre- 
eminent. It was the maternal care required 
by the long period of helpless infancy that first 
initiated altruism into the human race. It takes 
time to develop unselfishness and sympathy, 
and in the lower animals the interval requiring 
such complete care and self-sacrifice is lacking. 
It is the helpless child that develops in the 
mother carefulness, patience and tenderness; 



i6o Heredity and Child Culture 

if these do not exist in her, the child cannot 
survive. Merely bringing a child into life is 
not sufficient, so that an ethical element is as 
necessary as a physical one for continued exis- 
tence. 

The human child does what the offspring of 
the lower animals never accomplishes, — it acts 
as a developer of the affections, — it creates the 
true mother. Every mother may thus become 
a Madonna. The greatest moral force in the 
world for its uplifting hence has its original 
basis in a physical condition in which the child 
plays the leading role. Drummond ^ calls atten- 
tion to the fact that before maternal love can be 
evolved out of mere rudimentary care, before 
love can be made a necessity and carried past 
the unhatched egg to the living thing which is 
to come out of it, nature must alter all her ways. 
He puts it thus, — *^Four great changes at 
least must be introduced into her programme. 
In the first place, she must cause fewer young 
to be produced at birth. In the second place, 
she must have these young produced in such out- 

1 The Ascent of Mem, James Pott & Co. 



The Family i6i 

ward form that their mothers will recognize 
them. In the third place, instead of produc- 
ing them in such physical perfection that they 
are able to go out into life the moment they are 
born, she must make them helpless, so that for 
a time they must dwell with her if they are to 
live at all. And, fourthly, it is required that 
she shall be made to dwell with them; that in 
some way they also should be made necessary, 
— physically necessary, — ^to her to compel her 
to attend to them. All these beautiful arrange- 
ments we find carried out to the last detail.'' 
The human mother is thus primarily made by 
these four processes. During this period the 
mother also requires care and protection, and 
thus is evolved the father, giving love and sup- 
port to mother and offspring. In this way the 
family is created, which is the unit of civiliza- 
tion around which cluster all the higher attri- 
butes of man. 

Love, apart from passion and selfishness, is 
due to children : it has descended directly from 
them. The nurture and care of children, if 
properly conceived and carried out, constitute 



i62 Heredity and Child Culture 

the great educators in the character of parents. 
For children give more than they take. They 
are the greatest civilizers and humanizers of 
the race. Without their unconscious but bene- 
ficient influence, we would soon relapse into a 
possibly refined but selfish barbarism. The 
child has done more for the regeneration of the 
race than all the creeds that have ever been for- 
mulated. 

As the best physical, moral and social de- 
velopment of child life takes place in the indi- 
vidual home, every effort must be made to 
strengthen and conserve family life. The child 
forms the connective link of the family, which, 
in turn, represents the earliest human unit of 
association, antedating both church and state. 
In fact, the earliest form of government found 
expression in the patriarchal family. In social 
evolution, the monogamous relationship exhibits 
the highest form that family life has attained. 
It is probable that promiscuity marked the life 
of primitive man. Among many early tribes 
and nations, the family in the modern sense 
cannot be said to have functioned. The ideal 



The Family 163 

of monogamous marriage puts the home as the 
centre of family life, and all must recognize that 
here is the best place for child training. The 
home properly organized also elevates women 
and promotes religion. All remedial efforts 
both individual and social, must begin in the 
home, and, if results are to be enduring, must 
likewise end there. 

As the child has done so much in the evolu- 
tion of the family and of civilization itself, it 
it is evident that parents have a most important 
duty in training the young and developing a 
normal family life. To this end, parents should 
see more of their children in order to study 
their individual needs and possibilities. Too 
often they are early relegated to nurses and 
governesses, and later to pedagogues who can- 
not have the personal interest that should be 
possessed by parents. 

During infancy and early childhood, the 
mother is frequently willing to trust the child 
to an ignorant nursemaid of the peasant type, 
who has not had a proper training for this im- 
portant service. Preparation and education 



164 Heredity and Child Culture 

are required for all callings and professions ex- 
cept the most important one of all, — that of 
caring for little children. The mothers them- 
selves are the natural ones to give the major 
care to their young children, or, if desiring help, 
should have the knowledge and character to 
properly direct the nurse. Babies grow fond 
of those who personally minister to their wants, 
and it is pathetic to see an infant turn away 
from a refined mother and cry for some coarse, 
ignorant but kindly woman who feeds and cares 
for it. A little later, vulgar language and un- 
desirable habits may be acquired by such close 
association. 

There is no nobler profession in the world 
than that of mother. Like all callings in the 
modern world, it demands efficiency. While 
women have striven for advancement in all 
phrases of present day activities, — science, art, 
literature and social organization, they have 
often not kept pace with a wiser regimen in the 
rearing of children. It might be well to estab- 
lish schools of motherhood where, based upon 
a general foundation of biology, the students 



The Family 165 

could be taught the hygiene, physiology and 
psychology of childhood. If such knowledge 
could be applied, it would not take many gener- 
ations to secure a better, sounder race. Such 
a school might confer a degree that would be 
equivalent to that obtained by becoming pro- 
ficient in ancient history or the parallelopiped 
of forces. Much of the underlying restlessness 
and discontent in life, so often seen among our 
better-favored women would soon disappear if 
they could obtain a fresh orientation by study- 
ing and helping the little child. The average 
father has also an important duty, too often 
neglected, in studying and directing his chil- 
dren. He is so immersed in the business of 
making money to care for their material wants, 
that he has little or no time to guide their men- 
tal and spiritual development in the right di- 
rection. The social engagements of the mother 
and the business preoccupations of the father, 
result in no time being left for the children. 
They are thus sent to boarding schools and sum- 
mer camps and the whole duty of oversight 
shifted to the pedagogue. It is time more par- 



i66 Heredity and Child Culture 

/ 
ents themselves attended to the difficult and 

serious work of raising their oiTspring. 

One of the greatest evils of divorce, that is 
now unfortunately so prevalent, is the total dis- 
regard of the real interest of children. The 
breaking up of the home and handing them out 
from one parent to the other in six-month 
shifts has a most disastrous etfect. The in- 
herent selfishness of the men and women who 
stand for this practice is appalling. 

What is much needed among all classes at the 
present time is more of an appreciation of the 
great responsibility of bringing children into 
the world and the necessity of giving them 
a wholesome, happy family life. It is only thus 
that a normal, healthy generation can be reared. 

Some of our advanced communistic philoso- 
phers have lately proposed that children be 
separated from their parents and brought up in 
huge caravansaries under the care of the state. 
These pseudo-thinkers are as ignorant of bi- 
ology as of experience. Their pronouncements 
are better fitted for the barnyard than for 
civilized society. All experience shows that 



The Family 167 

the highest development of the child takes place 
in the individual family and home. 

The trend away from the home is one of the 
evils of the day and must be checked if future 
civilization is not to become retrogressive. 
The family must be conserved at any cost if 
only for the benefit of the child. 



CHAPTER XIV 



THE DEPENDENT CHILD 



The abandoned, dependent child forms a 
problem that has been poorly solved by modern 
society. We have warnings that some of our 
methods of child care are not the best. Those 
who thoughtfully work for dependent infants 
and children have long felt stirrings of dis- 
content with the methods in common use. We 
need a fresh orientation to guide our efforts in 
newer and more productive channels. A new 
spirit is called for which is not easy to find, and 
in which the individual needs of every neglected 
child will be considered. In this period of gen- 
eral reconstruction, let us try and put the salv- 
age of abandoned, dependent children on a 
natural and secure basis. To this end, all 
remedial efforts should be planned, as far as 

possible, along the line of Nature's laws. 

i68 



The Dependent Child 169 

It is only necessary to glance at some of 
the methods employed, to understand why re- 
sults have been so unsatisfactory. Many years 
ago needy children were sent to poor-houses, 
with or without their parents as the case might 
be. This plan worked badly; subsequently, 
they were boarded out in a careless, haphazard 
manner. The old baby-farming experience at 
once comes to mind, where an ignorant woman, 
living in squalor, took as many babies to board 
as she could accommodate, with a sick and death 
rate that was appalling. The late Dr. Elisha 
Harris, once reporting on this subject, stated 
that in New York, from 1854 to 1859, about 
1000 infants were boarded out each year, and 
ninety out of one hundred did not live to see 
their first birthday. As this plan was so de- 
plorable it was determined to house this class 
of children in large institutions where doctors 
and nurses could hold sway and try for better 
results. But when some years later this same 
class of infants was collected in an institution 
on Eandall 's Island, the results with young in- 
fants were frequently worse, as the death rate 



170 Heredity and Child Culture 

often reached 95 per cent, if they were kept 
very long. 

In this gradual evolution of saving destitute 
children, the pathway, with many digressions, 
started at the almshouse ; next followed the plan 
of careless farming out, and then came the con- 
gregate and cottage institution. Finally we 
have some sort of boarding out as the best solu- 
tion of a very difficult problem. 

The public systems for the care of dependent 
children by the various states have been classi- 
fied by Homer Folks as follows : ^ 

1. The state school and placing-out system, 
adopted hj Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, 
Ehode Island, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, 
Montana, Nevada and Texas. While the chil- 
dren may first be collected in an institution, the 
aim of this system is to place them in actual 
homes as soon as possible. 

2. The county children's home system, 
adopted by Ohio, Connecticut and Indiana- 
While placing-out is practised to some extent, 
it is not an important feature of this system. 

1 The Care of Neglected, Destitute and Delinquent Children, 
The Macmillan Co. 



The Dependent Child 171 

3. The plan of supporting public charges in 
private institutions, which prevails in New 
York, California, Maryland, District of Colum- 
bia, and to some extent in several other states. 
By per capita payments this plan encourages a 
long retention and building up of large institu- 
tions with a discouragement of placing-out. 

4. The boarding-out and placing-out system, 
which is carried on directly by the public author- 
ities in Massachusetts ; through a private organ- 
ization — the Children's Aid Society — in Penn- 
sylvania ; and has recently been undertaken by 
the state authorities in New Jersey. 

Thus in three states dependent children are 
directly boarded-out in family homes, followed 
by efforts made to place them in perma- 
nent free homes. This plan was earliest 
developed in Massachusetts, where it has been 
successfully carried out on a large scale since 
1882, when the children began to be removed 
from the state primary school. The latter was 
entirely abolished in 1895, since which time all 
the state dependent children have been boarded 
out. Three years later (1898) the city of Boston 



172 Heredity and Child Culture 

likewise abandoned the institutional plan and 
placed all destitute children in family homes. 

It is the infant that suffers most from 
institutiomal care. Babies are broug-ht into; 
the world singly and not in droves, and they 
crave individual care and mothering. The 
little child craves love. That close human ob- 
server, Jane Addams, with sympathetic vision, 
puts it thus : — ** We are told that the will to live 
is aroused in each baby by his mother 's irresist- 
ible desire to play with him, the physiological 
value of joy that a child is born, and that the 
high death rate in institutions is increased by 
the discontented babies whom no one persuades 
into living." 

In the last report of the State Board of Char- 
ities of New York, it is stated that 57.2 per cent, 
of infants under one year died in infant asylums 
through the state. There have been similar 
results as long as records have been kept. 
Under three months, the mortality often reaches 
two-thirds of the cases admitted. Some years 
ago the American Child Hygiene Association 
reported that during a series of years, the 



The Dependent Child 173 

general death rate of children under two years 
in the State of New York was about one-fifth 
that of institutions. It is only fair to add that 
they frequently receive abandoned infants in a 
weakened condition and that such cases are 
hard to manage. The bad results are not due 
to lack of kindness or attention, but to the fact 
that the whole system is wrong. ^ Good mo- 
tives and bad methods may coexist. It often 
requires the work of the wise to correct the mis- 
takes of the good. 

Aside from the large death rate, there is much 
sickness in the institutions, due largely to con- 

1 To those who are specially interested, reference is made to 
the following articles I have written on this subject: 

"A Plan of Dealing with Atrophic Infants and Children." 

Archives of Pediatrics, July, 1908. 

"The Proper Management of Foundlings and Neglected 

Infants." N. Y. Med. Record, February 18, 1911. 

"Are Institutions for Infants Necessary?" Jour. A.M. A. 

January 2, 1915. 

"A Plea for Accurate Statistics in Infant's Institutions," 

Archives of Pediatrics, October, 1915. 

"A Scheme of State Control for Dependent Infants." 

N. Y. Med. Record, June 17, 1916. 

"Systematized Boarding Out vs. Institutional Care for 

Infants and Young Children." N. Y. Med. Journal, June 

2, 1917. 

"The Speedwell Plan of Child Saving in Theory and Prac- 
tice." The Survey, October 26, 1918. 

"Problems of Boarding-out, with an Attempted Solution." 

N. Y. Med. Record, April 24, 1920. 

A little volume entitled, The Traffic in Babies, by George 
Walker, M.D., published by the Norman Remington Company, 
Baltimore, makes startling reading. 



174 Heredity and Child Culture 

tact infections. It seems impossible to avoid 
manifold cross infections when those sus- 
ceptible infants are handled in mass. They 
have a low resistance ; all kinds of colds, especi- 
ally of the influenza type, spread unchecked, and 
many cases of bronchitis and broncho-pneu- 
monia are thus contracted. If the specific con- 
tagions, such as measles, scarlet-fever, whoop- 
ing-cough or chicken-pox gain access to an in- 
stitution, as they very frequently do, they 
spread like wild fire and the results are often 
most disastrous. 

There is also constant danger in children's 
hospitals, as well as asylums, from the entrance 
and spread of these infections. I do not 
approve of the multiplication of infants' and 
children's hospitals through the country. A 
few can do all the necessary work. In most 
cases, a small ward in a general hospital can 
function efficiently and economically for sick 
children requiring special care. The hospital 
need only be utilized for surgical operations, 
for severe illnesses requiring highly specialized 
nursing and treatment, and for scientific obser- 



The Dependent Child 175 

vation of obscure cases requiring much labora- 
tory study. Children, and especially infants, 
do not respond well to prolonged hospital care. 
As soon as acute symptoms of disease have 
passed, they should be promptly discharged. 
Otherwise, there is liable to be recurrence of the 
original disease or a succumbing to some com- 
municable infection. Convalescence should 
take place elsewhere. 

Recognizing this fact, in 1890 I started Hos- 
pital Social Service in connection with the 
children 's division of the New York Post-Grad- 
uate Hospital. After a quick discharge, the 
necessary medical, surgical and social after- 
care takes place in the home. I believe this 
represents the first activity of the kind to be 
started and kept up as a routine proceeding.^ 
In this connection it is interesting to note that 
the nurses of the Henry Street Settlement 
of New York got better results with certain 
diseases of childhood, notably pneumonia, 
treated at home than do any of the hospitals. 

1 "The Relation Between the Child and Hospital Social 
Service" — Journal of the American Medical Association, 
July 23, 1921. 



176 Heredity and Child Culture 

Aside from infection the infants in institu- 
tions often progressively lose weight and lie in 
rows of cots in an apathetic condition, as there 
are usually too few attendants to take them up 
for needed change and exercise. It is especi- 
ally at night that babies may lie unattended 
from this cause. They rarely get enough fresh 
outside air : oxygen is needed as well as food to 
keep them in vigor. All these factors result in 
the devitalized babies so often seen in institu- 
tions. In warm climates they suffer much less 
from confinement in institutions, owing to the 
fact that windows may be kept open and their 
cots can be placed on porches or in courtyards. 

Owing to the facts here noted, the drift of 
opinion among thoughtful workers is strongly 
against the collective management of these 
cases, especially when the numbers are large. 
There has been an extraordinary agreement on 
this question among those who have had the 
widest opportunity for observation and experi- 
ment. 

As far back as 1909, a conference on the care 
of dependent children was held at Washington 



The Dependent Child 177 

D. C, at the call of President Eoosevelt, who 
was much interested in this vital human prob- 
lem. A large number of practical workers and 
experts in child saving from all parts of the 
country took part in the deliberations of this 
conference. Among many conclusions reached 
upon diverse problems of child saving, the 
following especially concern us here: ^^Home 
life is the highest and finest product of civi- 
lization. It is the great molding force of mind 
and character. Children should not be de- 
prived of it except for urgent and compelling 
reasons. ****** As to the children who 
for sufficient reasons must be removed from 
their own homes or who have no homes, it is 
desirable that, if normal in mind or body, and 
not requiring special training, they should be 
cared for in families whenever practicable. 
The carefully selected foster home is for the 
normal child the best substitute for the natural 
home.^' We have thus represented in these 
words the national opinion on this subject. 

Ten years later an International Conference 
of Eed Cross Societies, held at €annes, gave 



1 78 Heredity and Child Culture 

what can fairly be said to represent the best 
world thought on this question: ** Permanent 
institutional care for infants and young chil- 
dren should be discouraged on account of the 
almost insuperable difficulties in maintaining 
nutrition in infancy under these conditions and 
because of the great susceptibility of young 
children to infection; preference should be 
given to placing such children in suitable 
families/' 

Two experiments might be mentioned in 
which a striking difference between institu- 
tional and home care of abandoned infants has 
been recorded. In San Francisco the mortal- 
ity for years in the foundling asylums averaged 
50 per cent. The authorities of these institu- 
tions finally consented to abandon the institu- 
tional care and resorted to boarding out with 
careful oversight. A group of young college 
women undertook the follow-up work, and once 
a week all the babies are brought to a central 
station for weighing and general advice. As 
a result, the mortality of this class of cases has 
been reduced to 12 per cent. 



The Dependent Child 179 

A more striking comparison between institu- 
tional and boarding out mortality is alforded 
by the results obtained by the Sage Foundation 
and the Department of Health with babies taken 
from the marasmus ward of the N. Y. Found- 
ling hospital.^ This ward receives only the 
chronic cases of extreme atrophy that have al- 
ways ended in death. In boarding out a num- 
ber of these babies, an extra bonus was given 
to selected women, and a doctor and a nurse 
furnished for every ten babies. As a result 
there was an eventual mortality of 46 per cent. 
Thus nearly half of the babies were saved in 
the home who were bound to die in the institu- 
tion. 

As expert opinion is in such wide agreement 
upon stressing of family homes rather than the 
institution in the care of the abandoned young, 
it is strange that more thought and effort have 
not been placed on the problems of boarding 
out. The latter has not always functioned as 
well as it should, owing to lack of proper over^ 
sight and regulation. 

1 WovMm^s Medical Journal^ Jan. 1916. 



i8o Heredity and Child Culture 

The two main difficulties of boarding out con- 
sist, first in selecting a suitable home, and next 
in exercising constant and proper supervision. 
Where boarding out has fallen short, one or 
both of these factors have not been sufficiently 
emphasized. 

The Speedwell System 

After much thought on this subject, in 1902, 
I developed what is known as the Speedwell 
System, that represents a sustained effort so 
to regulate and systematize boarding out as to 
place its good effects at a maximum and its 
possible bad effects at a minimum. This has 
been accomplished by developing what may be 
called a unit system of intensive boarding out. 
A unit consists of a neighborhood selected 
after a survey has been made to learn the 
general conditions of healthf nines s and the 
number of good homes available in the locality. 
There is then inaugurated a constant over- 
sight, especially as to diet and hygiene, on the 
part of a salaried physician and nurse who are 
thoroughly familiar with this class of cases and 



The Dependent Child i8i 

competent to deal with them. The children are 
kept indefinitely until digestion and assimila- 
tion have improved sufficiently to result in a 
permanent increase in weight and strength. 

Efforts are made to train in each neighbor- 
hood a number of foster mothers, who, by 
natural aptitude under instruction and by con- 
stantly taking infants and young children into 
their homes, become fairly expert in handling 
them under conditions totally unlike those of- 
fered by institutions and far superior to them. 
We thus try to carry on an important educa- 
tional work among the families taking our chil- 
dren. The constant oversight of our doctor and 
nurse is aimed to help each foster mother in the 
care of her own children as well. The homes 
in which the children are placed are helped 
financially by the board paid, and morally by 
the good advice and watching of the trained 
observers. 

Thus the simple machinery that endeavors to 
really and permanently help the abandoned and 
ailing child will, at the same time, assist in edu- 
cating each community in which it operates in 



1 82 Heredity and Child Culture 

prevention and care of its own ailing children. 
This by-product, involving improved social 
ideals and a higher standard of living, may be 
made a very important feature of this work. 
It need hardly be stated that this individual 
and social ideal, in order to attain its highest 
success, must be operated by those who believe 
in it and are willing to put forth enthusiastic 
efforts toward its support. In other words, the 
human effort is here the important factor, and 
the system in order to attain its greatest effi- 
ciency calls for high grade workers who can 
idealize their efforts, as well as for good family 
homes where the boarded-out children will be 
reared under constant and intelligent super- 
vision. The emphasis is thus placed on Jmman 
agenis rather than on bricks and mortar. 

The underlying idea of a unit is to include a 
certain area in city or country that will be 
suffiiciently circumscribed to allow the workers 
to be acquainted with the personnel of the 
neighborhood and accessible for communication. 
It may include a part of the whole of a village 
or a certain district or a ward in a city. 



The Dependent Child 183 

The formation of a unit involves first the 
selection of a number of promising homes after 
the preliminary survey. Our experience has 
shown that it is a mistake to be too fastidious 
at first in selecting the homes. If the woman 
of the household has motherly instincts and 
fairly healthy children of her own, and seems 
teachable, a certain amount of dirt and dis- 
order can well be overlooked at the start. A 
porch or back yard, or some open space, is most 
essential, as plenty of fresh air is one of the im- 
portant features of this work. 

The next step is to select a committee of 
women living in or near the locality selected for 
the unit, who are familiar with the neighbor- 
hood and the people, and who constitute the 
local managers of the undertaking. They may 
help in raising money and supplies, assist in 
friendly visiting in the homes, acquaint them- 
selves with neighborhood conditions, and in 
these and other ways exercise general super- 
vision of the work. A further possibility of 
this endeavor may be to enable the well-to-do 
classes to properly envisage the life conditions 



184 Heredity and Child Culture 

of those less favored and thereby to develop 
genuine human relationships. 

The records kept of the children are uniform 
in all the units, and careful histories on a card 
system show the conditions and results of their 
care. 

There is a unit at Morristown, N. J., one 
at Yonkers, N. Y., and one at New Eochelle, 
N. Y., operated by the Free Synagogue of New 
York, which prepares abandoned children for 
adoption in Jewish homes. There is now being 
started a unit in the Kingsbridge section of 
New York City. The results as shown by a 
lowered death rate, and the production of 
healthy, normal children proves the superior- 
ity of this system over other plans of child 
saving. Each large city can be surrounded 
by units, and also have units, as well as collect- 
ing stations, in town. A rough outline of 
existing units is shown by the first two dia- 
grams, while the third illustrates our ideal for 
the general extension of the work. 

On the economic side, it is cheaper, as there 
are no overhead expenses for the operation of 



The Dependent Child 185 

buildings requiring service and supplies. In 
figuring institution expense, the cost of the 
plant and equipment, as well as the remitted 
taxes must be included. 




Fig. 1. Outline of Morristown Unit. 

The Speedwell system can be indefinitely 
enlarged by the simple multiplication of units, 
all operating on the same plan, and only requir- 



i86 Heredity and Child Culture 

ing as the work enlarges a central registry for 
temporary reception and distribution of cases. 
One or two rooms in a tenement house could 
serve the purpose. 




Fig. 2. Outline of Yonkers Unit. 

In this system which has been in successful 
operation for twenty years, I believe we have 
the best solution of a baffling problem. It has 
responded to the pragmatic test, — it works. 

At the International Congress for Child Wel^ 



The Dependent Child 187 

fare recently held in Brussels, the Congress 
recommended the organization throughout 
Europe of the unit method of board- 




Fig. 3. Diagram showing present extent of Speedwell 
work and possibilities of expansion. 

(1) Morristown Unit. 

(2) Yonkers Unit. 

(3) New Rochelle Unit. 

(4) City Unit (Kingsbridge). 

( ?) Other possible units in town and country. 

ing out, as operated by the Speedwell System 
in the United States. 

While older children do not suffer as do 



1 88 Heredity and Child Culture 

infants in mortality and morbidity from institu- 
tional life they are under abnormal conditions 
if they stay too long in such a place. The de- 
fective or delinquent child is best handled in an 
institution, but all others do better outside. 
The mass training of defectives is often more 
effective than individual care. 

Professor E. P. Devine ^ states that while in 
some places institutions seem necessary, yet 
they should not be encouraged, as they are 
wasteful of child life, wasteful of economic 
efficiency and character, promotive often of a 
spirit the opposite of law abiding, and this be- 
cause they do not give an experience to the child 
in natural family and neighborhood relation- 
ships, do not give an opportunity for the devel- 
opment of self-reliance and self-direction, do 
not gradually initiate the child into the every 
day routine of free citizenship, but necessarily 
repress his budding individuality, limit and con- 
trol the exercise of his judgment as to his body, 
contract his vision, mutilate his faculties and 
distort his sense of values. 

^'^The Normal Life'' — Survey Associates, 



The Dependent Child 189 

Professor Devine reaches the following con- 
clusion, — **It is the large institution under pri- 
vate or religious auspices, managed by a self- 
perpetuating or appointed board, but sup- 
ported by state or municipal appropria- 
tions, which is most difficult to keep human 
and educational. To keep within reasonable 
bounds as to size, or within reasonable bounds 
as to its subtle influence on state and municipal 
affairs. The subsidy or contract system con- 
tinually grows by what it feeds on. It repre- 
sents an unsound principle of divorcing control 
from support. One body directs the affairs of 
the institution; another pays the bills. The 
result is a division of responsibility and the 
neglect of the child. ^' 

There are times when it is difficult to avoid 
placing children in institutions, but in such cases 
the stay should be as short as possible, and, as 
the cottage plan does away with some of the 
evils, it should be the one of choice. The 
old congregate system, where children are 
housed in large dormitories, should be aban- 
doned. The inmates too often lose all individ- 



190 Heredity and Child Culture 

ual initiative and become little antomatons 
The spread of evil habits and associations can 
occur very easily under institutional auspices. 
Thomas Mott Osborne has said that many of 
his wards at Sing Sing Prison had their early 
training in institutions. He recently told me 
that a study of a group of prisoners at Auburn 
once showed that two-thirds of them had 
previously been inmates of juvenile institu- 
tions. 

It is thus evident that every effort should be 
made to keep children out of large institutions. 
So far as the child is concerned, the United 
States is institution-ridden, as there are rela- 
tively more here than in any other country. 
Scotland has the honor of maintaining the few- 
est. If parents die or are utterly unable to care 
for their children, some form of boarding out 
should be employed. The Speedwell plan can 
work with older as well as younger children, 
as it does away with the usual objection to 
boarding out, — lack of constant oversight. 

A very great advance has been made in solv- 
ing the problem of widows with children. Miss 



The Dependent Child 191 

Loab^ has stated that the local governments in 
41 states have now solved this question by 
entering widows' homes and seeing to it that 
the dependent children have that home influence 
which is most essential in the rearing of citi- 
zens. A Widows' Pension Law has been 
enacted in these states after the deliberations 
of a commission charged with the work of in- 
vestigating the subject. Thus, instead of 
removing dependent children from their own 
mothers and paying institutions to care for 
them, the money is paid to the mother herself 
and the home thereby kept intact. It is fur- 
ther stated by Miss Loeb that during the first 
six months of a recent year, New York City 
cared for 16,526 children together with their 
mothers: for the same period, 20,868 children 
were housed in private institutions. Aside 
from the great humanitarian element involved, 
it cost New York nearly twice as much to keep 
children in institutional homes as compared 
with the cost of keeping them in the private 
homes of their mothers. 

1 Everyman's Child — ^The Century Co. 



192 Heredity and Child Culture 

The magnitude and importance of the problem 
raised by the abandoned child has not been suf- 
ficiently realized. Last year, in New York 
State alone, 31,177 dependent children were be- 
ing trained and housed in institutions. Are 
these little lives being badly warped from un- 
natural surroundings? Shall they later be- 
come assets or liabilities to the community? 
We must always remember that children consti- 
tute the greatest possible future asset of the 
State. If they are improperly nurtured, 
society will later be obliged to build other in- 
stitutions for protection. It is cheaper and 
wiser to try to raise the child in a wholesome, 
normal manner. To this end, everything must 
be done to conserve the home. Children must 
be educated and the parents re-educated, if nec- 
essary, along normal lines. The great re- 
sponsibility of parenthood and the importance 
of conserving family relationships must be in- 
culcated. In some instances, shiftless parents 
are encouraged too easily to cast off respon- 
sibility for their children. 
For the abandoned, dependent child, sympa- 



The Dependent Child 193 

thetic care according to its needs must be 
rendered. An increasing knowledge of the 
real requirements of child life will not tolerate 
faulty methods much longer, for a larger and 
wiser human spirit is at work on these problems, 
which is not content to put up with evils that 
can be prevented. A wider vision, truer cour- 
age, and broader human feeling is needed in 
this work. The results will be worthy of the 
effort. 

The most powerful forces of nature, such as 
heat, electricity or the all-embracing ether, are 
subtle and unseen; may we not include mother 
love as another most potent agency in creat- 
ing and sustaining life! 

Phillips Brooks says very wisely, — *^He who 
helps a child helps humanity with a distinct- 
ness, with an immediateness, which no other 
help given to human creatures in any other 
stage of their human life can possibly give 
again." 



CHAPTER XV 

THE ADOPTION OF CHILDBEN 

Attention has been directed in a previous 
chapter to the fact that the poorest families 
usually have the largest number of children. 
If sickness or death comes to such a family, to 
cripple or remove the bread winner, the chil- 
dren are often stranded and the community 
must then come to the rescue. In many in- 
stances, the institution steps in and affords 
the needed refuge. 

On the other hand, many people in easy or 
independent circumstances, have few or no 
children. This is not entirely due to birth con- 
trol, as is usually supposed. In many cases, 
it is owing to physical causes that are trouble- 
some or impossible of removal. Civilization is 
hard on women and the higher they are in the 
social scale, the more difficult and uncertain be- 
comes the question of maternity. If some of 

194 



The Adoption of Children 195 

the surplus children at one end of the social 
scale could be transferred to the opposite end, 
the results would be most beneficial. This 
means that the homeless child should be placed 
in a childless home, to the lasting benefit of 
both. 

There is always going on a social current 
moving from below upward ; too high a degree 
of civilization often has a devitalizing influence 
on both the individual and society. There is 
some truth in the old adage that it takes three 
generations to get from shirtsleeves to shirt- 
sleeves. 

It is not only in married homes which are 
childless that the adoption of children would be 
beneficial. If well-to-do spinsters would take 
one or two children and bring them up in their 
homes, there would be less neurasthenia and 
hysteria in this class. The maternal instinct 
is often highly developed in unmarried women, 
and this plan would afford it a normal and use- 
ful outlet. 

A vigorous stream of life may thus be made 
to flow into some of our older families by en- 



196 Heredity and Child Culture 

grafting children who, although having a poor 
social inheritance, may yet be the possessors 
of a healthy organic inheritance. As a matter 
of fact, our oldest and so-called best families 
often cannot be safe in looking too closely into 
their ancestry. Many of the proudest families 
in Europe are descended from glorified cut- 
throats whose only claim to distinction lay 
in slaughtering the peasants of neighboring 
countries. The best known families of our own 
democracy have had forbears who engaged in 
the useful though humble occupations of stage- 
drivers, ferrymen, and fur traders. 

It is also a fact that individuals of the same 
race are more nearly related than is generally 
supposed. The following is a quotation from 
Conklin : * ^ Davenport concludes that no people 
of English descent are more distantly related 
than thirtieth cousins, while most people are 
much more closely related than that. ' ' If there 
is a good organic heredity back of any child, 
a favorable environment will do the rest. 

It is thus wise and safe to encourage the adop- 
tion of abandoned children who are normal and 



The Adoption of Children 197 

healthy. The beneficial effect will follow not 
only to the child but to the family taking it in. 
The adoption of children goes back to great 
antiquity. The Babylonians had laws for its 
regulation, as mentioned in the Code of Ham- 
marubi composed 2285 b. c. Mr. John Francis 
Brosnan,^ of the New York bar, has written an 
interesting monograph upon this subject from 
which the following excerpts are taken, — ^* Look- 
ing first to Eome, the admitted source of our 
law on this subject, we fiaid that from its 
earliest days the civil law recognized adoption. 
At first it was attended with great ceremonial 
dignity. Later, Justinian simplified and codi- 
fied its procedure. Originally accomplished by 
authority of the people assembled in Comita, 
it later became effective by imperial rescript 
or by a proceeding before a magistrate wherein 
appeared personally the person giving, the per- 
son given, and the person receiving. The re- 
sults were far reaching. Not only the person 
adopted came under the power of the person 
adopting him, but the power given to the adopt- 

1 TTie Medical Times, June, 1917. 



198 Heredity and Child Culture 

ing father extended over the children and the 
grandchildren of the person adopted. * * * * 
From Eoman law quite naturally the practice 
became incorporated in the jurisprudence of the 
Latin races. In ancient epochs it was prevalent 
in some portions of France, but not permitted in 
others. It seems to have been of varying kinds. 
There was a form whereby a man took the name 
of the person adopting him and agreed to bear 
arms in his behalf. This did not give him any- 
new property rights. * * * * The Code Napo- 
leon, which crystallized the French law, did not 
provide for an absolute change of family. In- 
deed, it did not permit the adoption of minors, 
but prepared the way for adoption by creating 
what was termed an official tutorship. By the 
Spanish law the person adopted succeeded as 
heir to the one adopting him. * * * * The 
Assyrians, the Greeks, and the Egyptians all 
recorded it. In Greece, in the interests of the 
next of kin, it was provided that the ceremony 
should be attended with certain formalities and 
take place at the time of certain festivals. 
Among the Egyptians we have the historic a- 



The Adoption of Children 199 

doption of Moses, set forth in the words of Holy 
Writ, — *And she adopted him for a son and 
called him Moses, saying I took him out of the 
water.' The Hebrew law is silent on the sub- 
ject. Some writers have urged that the words 
of St. Paul show that it was well known to them, 
but it is submitted that these similes were 
painted by the great apostle for the Komans and 
the Galatians, people who knew and practised 
adoption. Adoption among the ancient Ger- 
mans was attended with military ceremonies 
and the placing of warlike weapons in the hands 
of the adopted. * * * * We find it among the 
tribal customs of the Indians of the Western 
World. * * * * While adoption is now general 
in the United States, it was not until the middle 
half of the nineteenth century that statutes 
changing the common law so as to permit the 
same were enacted, Massachusetts, in 1851, 
being the first of the common law States to 
pass the same.'' 

Statutes permitting and regulating adoption 
are now in force in most of the States of the 
Union. The legal relations are the same as 



200 Heredity and Child Culture 

those that exist between natural parents and 
children, including control, obedience and in- 
heritance rights. In some states an order of 
the court is required, while in others a deed 
acknowledged and recorded is sufficient to con- 
summate the adoption. 

The following excerpts are taken from the 
New York State law: **The foster parent or 
parents, the person to be adopted, and all the 
persons whose consent is necessary * * * 
must appear before the County judge or the sur- 
rogate of the county where the foster parent or 
parents reside and be examined by such judge 
or surrogate. * * * * if satisfied that the moral 
and temporal interests of the person to be 
adopted will be promoted thereby, the judge 
or surrogate must make an order allowing 
and confirming such adoption, reciting the rea- 
sons therefor, and directing that the person to 
be adopted shall thenceforth be regarded and 
treated in all respects as the child of the foster 
parent or parents. ' ' 

England is one of the few civilized countries 
that has no adoption laws and never has had 



The Adoption of Children 201 

any. It is strange that since the War, with all 
the orphans and war babies needing homes, this 
great legal defect has not been corrected by act 
of parliament. 

There are various ways in which children are 
received and offered for adoption. The orphan 
and juvenile asylums have usually a larger or 
smaller number of children who are available 
for adoption. It is often difficult to get them 
out, however, owing to religious and other quali- 
fications that are not easy to fulfill. Some of 
the large Societies having close relationships 
with children, such as the State Charities Aid 
Association and Children's Aid Society of New 
York, also have as an important feature of 
their work the adoption of children. Since 
1898 the former Society has placed 3400 chil- 
dren in homes for adoption; in the last six 
years, the latter organization has done the 
same beneficent work for 432 children and the 
great majority have turned out well. It is a 
most satisfactory and promising kind of reme- 
dial effort, as the results are constructive and 
permanent. The greater the number of agen- 



202 Heredity and Child Culture 

cies that will attack this problem, the more wide- 
spread and flexible will be the efforts and re- 
sults. 

In 1910 my wife, wishing especially to help 
this class of cases, began taking abandoned in- 
fants and little children into our home to pre- 
pare them for adoption. To our surprise, there 
was a greater demand for these little waifs 
than we could readily supply. Accordingly, the 
Alice Chapin Adoption Nursery was launched 
in an apartment where eight babies at a time 
are nurtured, with adoption in view. Over four 
hundred children have been placed in good 
homes all over the country since the beginning 
of this work. Some of the features came as an 
additional surprise. It is understood that any 
child can be returned within a year, and yet 
among this large number only eight have been 
sent back. In these returned cases the fault 
lay more with the foster parents than with the 
children, as other and more satisfactory place- 
ments were soon made for the latter. It is as- 
tonishing how soon close and tender relation- 
ships are established between the foster parents 



The Adoption of Children 203 

and these children. It early becomes as un- 
thinkable to separate them as if they were their 
own children. They are proudly exhibited and 
their good points paraded in quite the orthodox 
paternal and maternal manner. They have 
brought life and brightness into drab homes- 
neurotic women have forgotten their peculiar 
ailments in watching the child develop. It 
forms a very satisfactory ** sublimation '* for 
many unrestful women. Another strange phe- 
nomenon is that where a little one is adopted 
as a companion for the only child who fre- 
quently leads such a lonely life, the newcomer is 
soon loved as well as the real son or daughter. 
Others have engaged in this work. The Spence 
Alumnae Society has done so for a long time, 
and thereby contributed to the rescuing of 
numerous infants and given happiness to many 
families. This work thrives best in small units, 
as does all remedial aid for children. It can be 
operated all over the country, and, if so, there 
would soon be few homeless children and child- 
less homes. 



204 Heredity and Child Culture 

The Illegitimate Child 

What is to become of the illegitimate child? 
Is one way better than another in dealing with 
this difficult question? The extent of the prob- 
lem varies in different countries and districts. 
Infants born out of wedlock reach from three 
to twelve per cent, of all births in civilized coun- 
tries. There is a yearly average of 32,000 ille- 
gitimate births among the white population of 
the United States. They do not differ much, 
if any, from other infants except that they 
present a higher death rate. This is because 
of lack of proper care, which the deserted 
mothers are not able to give. In many cases 
these babies are unusually well formed and at- 
tractive. 

Most agencies and institutions handling these 
cases recommend that the mother keep the baby 
on the ground that her character will be stabil- 
ized by love for her child. While this is doubt- 
less true in some cases, I believe, under present 
social conditions, it is wiser as a rule to sepa- 
rate them and have the child adopted into a 



The Adoption of Children 205 

good family if marriage is out of the question. 
My reasons for this are reached after wide ex- 
perience and observation. In the first place, 
the child, who is the only innocent party in the 
whole transaction, should have the primary 
consideration. To be brought up in a pre- 
carious manner by the hard struggles of an un- 
married mother, without normal home life, 
and with the stigma of illegitimacy hanging over 
its head, is not a happy outlook. The mother 
herself cannot escape the cruel implication of 
the scarlet letter. This will all be avoided by 
having the woman face her trouble away from 
home and, after nursing her baby long enough 
to give it a good start, have it adopted into 
some family able to give protection and train- 
ing as well as love and thus open the door of 
future opportunity. Outside of a few inti- 
mates, the world can thus be kept in ignorance 
of the girPs misfortune. I have rarely seen 
any of these young women who could be con-- 
sidered bad. They are rather ignorant and un- 
sophisticated, and give for love what many 
better placed women give for position or for- 



2o6 Heredity and Child Culture 

tune. There is no connection between this class 
of women and prostitutes, who usually cannot 
have children if they would. Thus both woman 
and child should not be punished but protected, 
and directed to the wisest outcome of their 
trouble. 

Miss Plows-Day, one of the founders of the 
National Adoption Society of England, as a re- 
sult of close personal experience derived from 
more than twenty years of rescue work among 
all kinds of fallen women in London, has con- 
cluded that if the child is taken entirely out of 
the unfortunate conditions under which it was 
born by being properly adopted, it has the very 
best, if not the only chance for future happiness 
and health of soul, mind and body. She has 
recognized the inaccuracy of the argument that 
a girl who keeps her illegitimate child is less 
apt to fall again than if she was helped back, 
as far as possible, to her former social and eco- 
nomic position. The contrary has been her ex- 
perience. While during the child ^s earliest 
years it may appear to help steady the mother 
to let her keep her child, the strained relations 



The Adoption of Children 207 

will sooner or later have a bad effect upon 
both child and mother. The mother should 
thus be taught the desirability of renunciation 
and inspired to be willing to sacrifice her claim 
of motherhood for the benefit of her child. 

For women who are in good circumstances 
the problem is not so difficult. In a few in- 
stances it has been arranged that an unmarried 
mother shall adopt her own baby with our nurs- 
ery as intermediary. Thus is offered a happy 
solution of a tragic problem. 

Norway has taken a most advanced stand 
in connection with the legal status of the child 
born out of wedlock, — which is the same in rela- 
tion to the father as to the mother. Efforts are 
made to establish the paternity of the child as 
far as the state can accomplish this. The right 
of the child overrides the right of the mother 
in case she wishes to keep this a secret. As a 
result, 40 per cent, of the illegitimate children 
in Norway receive support from their fathers. 
In all these cases paternity had to be established 
if it was not willingly acknowledged. 

Until other countries are willing to give a 



2o8 Heredity and Child Culture 

fairer deal to the illegitimate child and better 
aid to the unmarried mother, adoption of the 
child into good families is the best solution of 
the problem in a great majority of cases. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE PBOLONGATION OF HUMAN LIFE THROUGH 
CHILD CULTURE 

Can human life be mucli prolonged? If pos- 
sible, is such a result desirable? A mere con- 
tinuation of life, without vigor or productive 
power, does not present an attractive outlook. 
Simply to drag out a vegetative existence 
usually means unhappiness to the individual 
and too often a burden on society ; yet one can- 
not help feeling that many human lives are too 
short. Just as the individual learns how to 
live and begins to accumulate a valuable ex- 
perience that may be of service to the world, 
death cuts short the career. 

There may be almost unlimited possibilities 
in the future development of the human race if 
the span of life can only be lengthened. There 
is no physiological basis for the three score 
years and ten that so long have been considered 

209 



210 Heredity and Child Culture 

as the satisfactory limit of human life. Nat- 
uralists tell us tliat the length of life in the 
lower animals averages five times the period of 
the growth of their bones. By analogy, this 
would mean that the human animal should live 
to be a hundred. 

I believe we may build up a future genera- 
tion that can reach the century mark if only 
the developing period can be more carefully 
cultured. The roots of most degenerative con- 
ditions, and many of the infections, have their 
inception in the early years. Thus, by more 
carefully nurturing this period we may make 
the proper start for a long and vigorous exis- 
tence. 

Life may be divided into three spans, — first, 
that of development ; second, a longer or shorter 
period of physical stand-still; and finally a 
short one of degeneration and decline, — corre- 
sponding to childhood, middle age and old 
age. Each period requires special manage- 
ment, but a right start is the most important of 
all. I have elsewhere considered the needs of 



The Adoption of Children 211 

these separate periods and shown how a pro- 
longing of each depends largely upon the proper 
handling of the previous one.^ Of late, most 
health work has been devoted to the early years, 
with the result of a great saving of infant and 
child life. The expectation of life at birth is 
now about ten years greater than it was thirty 
years ago. This must eventually result in a 
general prolongation of human life, although 
it has not yet had time to accomplish such a 
result. 

In various ways, the first and last years of 
life may be among the most fruitful ; if properly 
envisaged they are likewise the most interesting. 
At the beginning, the strong foundations for a 
sound, vigorous existence may be laid. When 
this is done, the vigor will continue in a long 
and productive manner. Thus the ending may 
not be clouded, but rather be full of wise ex- 
perience, kindly outlook and mellowed vision. 

History gives numerous instances where 
highly productive work was accomplished dur- 

1 Health First: The Fme Art of Living — Century Co. 



212 Heredity and Child Culture 

ing advanced years. Dorland calls attention 
to many of these cases.^ Verdi was in his 
eightieth year when he composed **Falsta£f ; 
Oliver Wendell Holmes at seventy-nine pub- 
lished **Over the Tea Cups''; Victor Hugo was 
eighty when he wrote * * Torquemada ' ' ; Hum- 
bolt was in his ninetieth year when he com- 
pleted his remarkable work **Kosmos"; Eanke 
began his world history when he was eighty 
and finished twelve volumes before his death 
at ninety-four; Bancroft did not complete his 
history until the age of eighty-two ; Browning 
wrote *^Asolando'' when he was seventy-six. 

The most recent example of productivity at 
great age is shown by Dr. Stephen Smith who 
was my preceptor and with whom I lived for 
two years at the beginning of my professional 
career. Dr. Smith is now in his hundredth 
year and at the recent fiftieth anniversary of 
the American Public Health Association, which 
he founded, he made a long address on health 
matters and is now engaged in writing a book. 
He recently told me that he believes others can 

1 The Age of Mental Virility — Century Co. 



The Adoption of Children 213 

reach the same ripened and constructive matur- 
ity by hygienic living. 

If we can have a good heredity and favorable 
environment during the early years, there is 
no doubt that health and vigor may be con- 
tinued much longer than have usually been at- 
tained. The evolution of the human body has 
been pretty fully accomplished; Professor Con- 
Min says that for at least one hundred centuries 
there has been no notable progress in this re- 
spect. In stature and skull size we do not ap- 
pear much better than the Cro-Magnons. 

What is left for us is to conserve and im- 
prove the mental and spiritual acquirements of 
the race, based on the physical structure we 
have inherited from the ages. This means that 
our years must be carefully husbanded and our 
productive life, if possible, extended. If we 
would try for a potent, prolonged and serene 
old age, we must start early in life, — with the 
child. 

This last chapter, therefore, ends as did the 
first, — Concentrate on the Child! 



INDEX 



Addams, Jane, 172 
Adolescence, 102 
Adoption of children, 194 

— ways and means offered 

for, 201 
Age, the pre-school, 74 

— of marriage, 37-38 

Alice Chapin adoption nurs- 
ery, 202 

American Child Hygiene As- 
sociation, 172 

— Medical Association, 6S 

— Public Health Assoc'n, 

212 

Ancestral inheritance, Dal- 
ton's law of, 18-19 

Ancient Roman laws for care 
of dependent children, 
197 

Ants and bees, organization 
in life of, 26 

Aristotle, 39 

Athletics, 100 

Average weekly gain in in- 
fants, 61 



Baker, Dr. Josephine, 93 

Bancroft, 212 

Barbarism in children, 122 

Barnes, Prof., 121 

Bees and ants, organization 

in life of, 26 
Beginning of life, 48 



215 



Biological heredity, 22 

— regulation of, 58 

— birth mortality and, 52 
Birth weight, 59 

Brain development, 3 

— of the infant, 108-109 
Brain, growth and evolution 

of, 65 

Brain structure and func- 
tions, 106-107 

Breeding, selective, 35 

Brooks, Phillips, 193 

Brosnan, John Francis, 197 

Browning, 212 



Calories as measures of food 
value, 190 

Charity organization Soc'y, 
71 

Chicago High Schools, ques- 
tionaire in, 114 

Child as a creator of affec- 
tion, the, 160 

— importance of the, 1 

— the dependent, 168 

— health organizations, 85 

— the illegitimate, 204 

— culture, prolongation of 

human life through, 209 
Child's place in evolution, 

the, 162 
Childhood, development dur- 
ing, 75 
Children, adoption of, 194 

— imdernourished, 152 



2l6 



Index 



Children's Village, 32 

Communistic philosophers, 
flaws in reasoning of, 
166 

Comparative growth of boys 
and girls in height, 83 

Complexes, 133-135 

Conception, development of 
life after, 49 
— principles of, 48 

Conklin, Prof. Edwin Grant, 
15, 21, 27, 42, 196, 213 

Conn, Prof. Herbert William, 
21, 23, 28 

Conscience, developmenjt of, 
25 

Conservation as preparatory- 
foundation for improv- 
ing social structure, 6 

Conserving infant life, 68 

Contagion among institution 
children, 173-174 

Correct posture, 96 

Cows' milk, care in collection 
and distribution of, 146 

Crum, Mr. F. S., 68 



D 



Darwin, 10 

Darwin, Mayor Leonard, 35 
Defective hygiene in child in- 
stitutions, 176 

— vision in rural school chil- 

dren, 95 
Defectives, propagation of, 42 

— suggestions for curbing, 

44 
Delinquency, childhood traits 

and, 126 
Dentition, process of, 67 
Dependent children, public 

system for care of in 

various states, 170 
Developing period, the, 58 
Devine, Prof. E. P., 188 



Diet for nursing mother, 146 
Divorce, one of the greatest 

evils of, 166 
Doncaster, Prof., 27 
Dorland, 212 

E 

Eating slowly, value and im- 
portance of, 147 
Education, 112 

— and instruction, 115 

— the senses in, 113 
Educational work in Speed- 
well System, 181 

Embryo, development of, 49 
Emerson, Dr. Wim. R. P., 152 
Endocrine glands, import- 
ance of, 125 
England, care of dependent 

children in, 201 
Environment in life, heredity 
and, 1 

— or heredity, importance 

contrasted, 9 

European laws on care of de- 
pendent children, 198 

Evolution, development of 
conscience in, 25 

— forces producing, 10 

— and growth of brain, 65 
■— language in, 23 

— writing in, 24 

— moral sense and, 24 

F 

Family, the, 157 

Farmers' Bulletin No. 808 of 
the United States Govern- 
ment, 148 

Fear to be avoided, 135 

Federal Children's Bureau, 
68, 70, 76 

Ferguson, 33 

Fiske, John, 2, 157 

Folks, Homer, 170 



Index 



217 



Food principles, 139 

Forces producing evolution, 

10 
Franklin, Benj., 39 
Freud, 133 

G 

Galton*s law of ancestral in- 
heritance, 18-19 

Girls, higher education for, 
116-117 

Growth during infancy, 59 



Hall, Prof. G. Stanley, 119 
Harris, Dr. Elisha, 169 
Height, comparative growth 
of hoys and girls in, 83 
Heredity, Biological, regula- 
tion of, 58 

— biological and social, 22 

— views of biologists on, 10 

— or environment, discussion 

of relative importance 
of, 9 

— and environment as con- 

trolling factors in life, 

1 
Higher education for girls, 

116-117 
Holmes, Dr., 52 
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 212 
Hrdlicka, Dr. Ales, 126 
Hugo, Victor, 212 
Humbolt, 212 
Hygiene in child institutions, 

defective, 176 



Ellegitimate children, Nor- 
way's stand on legal 
status of, 207 
niegitimate child, the, 204 
Imitation and suggestion in 
mental development, 110 



Importance of the child, the, 
1 

— of proper nutrition, the, 

138 
Infancy, growth during, 59 

— period of, 2 

Infant mortality among 
foundlings in institu- 
tions, 178 

Infection among institution 
children, 173-174 

— in childhood, 77 
Inheritance, organic, 9 

— social, 21 

— social and organic, 30 

— Galton's law of ances- 

tral, 18-19 
Instincts, origin and function 

of, 26 
Instruction and education, 

115 
International Conference for 

Child Welfare, 187 

— Conference of Red Cross 

Societies, 177 
Iowa school children, conclu- 
sions resulting from 
study of, 86 

— study of 40,000 children 

in, 76 



Lamarck, 10 

Language, place of in evolu- 
tion, 23 

Length and structural char- 
acteristics of infants at 
birth, 62-63 

Life, beginning of, 48 

— three spans of, 210 

Loeb, Miss, 190 

Lombroso, 122-123 

Lying as a child fault, 121 



2l8 



Index 



M 

Malnutrition in school chil- 
dren, 94 

— its effect and cure, 152- 

156 
Marriage, age of, 37-38 
*'Maternal impression'* bug- 
bear disproved, 56 
Maternity, preparation for, 
54 

— mental preparation for, 

56 
Mating, discussion of condi- 
tions of, 40 
Mendel, Gregor, 14 

Mendelism, 14 
Mental Culture, 106 
Mereier, Dr. Charles, 49 
Milk as a food, 142-144 
Moral Culture, 121 

— sense and evolution, 24 
Mortality and birth, 52 
Motherhood, schools of, 164 
Musculature in infancy, 66 

N 

Nerve culture, 132 
Neurotics, 132-133 
New York Board of Health, 

81 
— • City, reduction of infant 

mortality in, 69 

— Juvenile Asylum, 126 
Newman, Sir George, 5, 37 
Norway's stand on legal 

status of illegitimate 
children, 207 
Nursemaids, mistake of em- 
ploying ignorant, 164 
Nursing mother. Diet for, 146 
Nutrition, importance of 
proper, 138 



Organic inheritance, 9 



— and social inheritance, 30 

Organization in life of bees 
and ants, 26 

Osborn, Prof. Henry Fair- 
field, 16 

Osborne, Thomas Mote, 190 



Paton, Professor Stewart, 24 

Pearson, 19 

Period, the developing, 58 

— of infancy, 2 

Play, teaching children to, 

128 
Plows-Day, Miss, 206 
Precocious children, 109 
Prenatal care, 51 
Pre-school age, the, 74 
Prolongation of human life 

through child culture, 

209 
Public Systems for the care 

of dependent children in 

various states, 170 

R 

Range, 212 

Redfield, Casper L., 38-39 
Religious training, 129 
Royal Sanitary Institute of 

Great Britain, tabulated 

report of, 99 
Rural schools, 94 

S 

School child, the, 82 

— equipment, 97 
Selective breeding, 35 
Selfishness, elimination of, 

128 
Senses in education, 113 
Sex education of children, 

123 
Sexual selection, advisability 

of, 36 



Index 



^19 



Smith, Dr. Stephen, 212 
Sobel, Dr., SO 
Social Heredity, 22 

— inheritance and organic in- 

heritance, 30 

— inheritance, 21 
Spauling, Dr., 135 
Speedwell System, the, 180 
Spence Alumnae Society, 203 
Spinal column in infancy, 66 
State Board of Charities of 

New York, Report of, 
172 

Stoddard, Lathrop, 28 

Structural development of 
the infant, 64 

Suggestion in mental develop- 
ment, imitation and, 
110 

System, the Speedwell, 180 



Teeth in childhood, care of, 
79 
Thinking, the value of cor- 
rect, 114 



V 

Vacations in schools, 118 
Verdi, 212 
Vitamines, 140-141 

W 

VPIeight of infants at birth, 
59 

— weekly average gain of, 

61 

— increase of at 5 to 6 

months, 61 

— relation of to develop- 

ment, 84 
Weismann, Doctrine of, 13 
Weismann, 27, 39 
Weismann's distinction be- 
tween hereditary forces 
and their visible ex- 
pression, 17 
Wlidows* Pension Law, 191 
Wood, Dr. Thomas D., 85, 94 
Writing as a factor in evolu- 
tion, 23 



U 

Units in the Speedwell Sys- 
tem, 180-187 



